


Legal Guardian

by ayebibs



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Parents, Angst, Child!Hinata Shouyou, Child!Kozume Kenma, Fluff, Lots of Familial!Kuroo Tetsurou & Kozume Kenma, M/M, Parental Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-09
Updated: 2016-11-19
Packaged: 2018-07-22 11:00:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7434237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ayebibs/pseuds/ayebibs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Kuroo’s long time friends and old upperclassmen pass away, he is left with a great responsibility: taking care of their child, Kenma. It’s a promise that he gave them both, but never thought he’d feel the reality of. Regardless, he’s doing his best for him and Kenma. Part of that is moving to the countryside and uprooting them both from the urban landscape they had become accustomed to. </p><p>As it turns out, moving to Miyagi might be exactly what they needed. Kuroo reunites with Daichi, an old volleyball rival and now a young dad, who seems to have this whole “parenting thing” figured out and, with the help of some energetic friends, Kenma might just be able to move forward.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. City Boys

“Okay, ready?” Kuroo threw the door in front of them wide open and extended an arm, gesturing to the large empty room. 

“What do you think?” He asked Kenma, folding his arms over his chest.

The eight year old didn’t really seem to be paying that much attention, much less excited. He fiddled with the hem of his t-shirt and gave a little shrug.

“It’s really hot,” he commented.

Kuroo sighed, that was maybe the fourth time that Kenma had brought up the heat. To be fair, after lugging all of their boxes in from the moving truck on an unexpectedly warm spring day the temperature was taking its toll. The house felt a little stuffy and he could feel the sweat beading on his forehead and back.

“Okay, okay,” he held up a hand, “I’ll turn on the air conditioning.”

“You said that half an hour ago.” 

He had definitely forgotten.

“I will… About the room. What do you think about the room?”

Kenma stepped forward a little and survey his new bedroom.

“It’s nice to have my own room again,” he said after a bit.

It was mostly barren apart from the wooden desk propped up against the wall and the bed opposite of it. Still, it was bigger than his old studio in the city; this one room had more windows than the entirety of that old apartment. Thinking back to it, Kuroo wasn’t sure how they managed for three months. 

Well, he did know how they managed: poorly. 

They managed with two futons on the floor of the apartment, not having enough space for both of their things, and constantly feeling like they were both intruding on the other person. They had still gotten by, but Kuroo’s decision to move to the countryside after being offered a new job with a steep salary increase was the smart move. The new job, that had significantly better hours, would give him more time and resources to take care of Kenma the way that he wanted to. 

“I figure you can decorate with some posters of your favorite video games,” Kuroo paused to grab the box labeled “bedding” and pulled it into the room, “we can pick something up when we’re shopping, after you get your haircut.” 

Kenma didn’t say anything, but aided Kuroo as he unpacked the box and began to cover the mattress with a fitted sheet. Absentmindedly, Kuroo wondered if Kenma was always that silent or if this was a development of the past few months, but his brain couldn’t quite remember. So, he opted for trying to fill the silence again.

“Are you excited to start school again?”

Kenma shrugged. He hadn’t really expressed many opinions about the move. Although he seemed pleased that they would be getting a larger space, he never voiced his opinion on leaving his old school and friends behind. Truth be told, Kuroo didn’t think that there were any friends he was leaving behind; Kenma was always a quiet child, living closer to the walls and inside of his head. Still, the thought that he was going from relatively lonely to completely lonely made Kuroo’s heart ache.

“I’m nervous,” Kenma said at last. He paid a lot of attention to the wrinkles in the bed sheet and prodded some fabric that was sticking up with his fingers. “I’m going to have to stand in front of the class and introduce myself and then I’ll have to talk to everyone a lot.”

His social anxiety was coming on.

“Just for the first day,” Kuroo said, “It’ll get better after when you find a couple of friends.”

Another shrug.

“There’ll definitely be kids who like the same games as you,” Kuroo said as he sifted through another box, looking for more Kenma’s things. “You’ll have people to play with.”

“Not really,” Kenma responded. “Nobody is usually as good as me and then they get mad when I win.”

Kuroo let out a soft laugh and Kenma answered with a mildly annoyed stare. If it had been any other kid, those words would have just been completely boisterous. Instead, Kenma was just stating his experience. He played so much, that he was on a very different skill level than his peers. Hell, Kuroo had a hard time beating him in most games. 

“Okay, okay,” he said, “but don’t forget to give it a try anyway.”

* * *

The next day, Kuroo rounded the corner of the street to find himself at the after school program. It was a small building, the front sign was a pastel yellow with white words that simply read: “After School Academic and Recreation Program.” 

He had done thorough research on the place online before moving into the area. He had scoured through the hundred or so reviews that parents had left on the program to see if it was the best choice. The location (close to Kenma’s elementary school), the staff (who parents praised for being kind and patient), and the actual program (combining a mix of supplementary language and mathematics lesson with free time and recreation) seemed too good to be true.

In one respect, it was because Kenma didn’t enjoy the idea of being having to spend more time outside of the house not playing his favorite video games. Still, it wasn’t as though Kuroo was just going to let the eight year old stay home alone while he was at work when he could have the academic benefits of the program.

There hadn’t been a fight about it. It was rare that Kenma felt strongly enough about something to speak out about it, but when he had reminded him about it that morning he was met with the child’s annoyed, scrunched up face. He had to turn away and walk into the next room before he let out a laugh. 

Kenma heard him anyway, snapping: “What are you laughing at?”

The door to the building was open and some parents and kids were at the front. Some parents were conversing with each other as their children talked amongst themselves. Right in the middle there was a silver-haired man holding a clipboard and talking to a woman, holding a small blonde girl’s hand and standing next to a raven-haired boy.

“…Ah, is that so?” Kuroo caught the four-eyed woman say as he walked up and waited for his turn to speak to the program employee.

“Of course,” the man with silver hair beamed. Looking at them, they seemed familiar, but Kuroo couldn’t quite place where he remembered them from. “Hitoka-chan is as sweet and smart as always. And, of course,” he looked to the boy on the opposite side, “Tobio-kun has been doing very well too.”

At the compliments, the children flushed, instinctively inching to hide themselves behind, who Kuroo assumed was, their mother before they let out stuttered “thank you”s after being prodded by her.

“We’ll be going then. Thank you, Koushi.” The woman gave the man a quick one-armed hug before walking away.

“Hello!” The man greeted. “Can I help you with something?”

“Ah, yes, I’m here to pick up Kozume Kenma.”

“Oh, Kenma! Our newest addition.” The man extended a hand for him to take. “I’m Sugawara Koushi.”

“Kuroo Tetsurou,” he answered giving Sugawara’s hand a firm shake. 

“Kuroo…?” Sugawara looked at him pensively. He couldn’t tell whether Sugawara was confused about why he was picking up a child with a different last name or if he also got the feeling that they knew each other. “Ah!” He exclaimed, startling him a bit. “I don’t know how I didn’t recognize you, you look exactly the same.”

Just as the words left Sugawara’s mouth, it hit him.

“You were Karasuno’s setter! You look the same too!”

“Honestly,” he laughs, “who would of thought Nekoma’s captain would end up in Miyagi?”

“It just kind of worked out that way!”

“Huh,” Sugawara said, “what a shame that you came today of all days!”

“Why is that?”

“Asahi, I don’t know if you remember our ace, called out of work today. You also just missed Daichi, too! His son attends this program too! It would have been nice if you caught him. Would’ve been a little captain's reunion.”

He remembered Daichi. They were both captains and, of course, that had bred the competitive nature already fueled by their school’s rivalry. At official games and training camps, they were always trying to one up another. They had graduated with an even tally, although Kuroo never let him forget that his team had taken the last win.

The competition had provided an avenue for a short-lived friendship that fizzled out when they went to college and fell out of contact. 

It had been, what? Ten years since they graduated? 

Kuroo let that thought leave his head, that he was getting older much faster than he anticipated and was creeping on thirty was never his favorite thing to fixate on.

“And the woman who just left…? That was your former manager wasn’t she? Sorry, I don’t really remember her name.”

“It’s been awhile,” Sugawara waved it off, “Shimizu Kiyoko, she just picked up her son and daughter.”

“You all have managed to stay close to each other for so long.”

“Well, a lot of upper and lower classmen moved around a bit, but our graduating class mostly stayed in Miyagi.”

“I see, so-” 

Before Kuroo could continue their conversation, he caught a glimpse of Kenma’s dark hair and gave him a low wave. It wasn’t returned, but Kenma walked up to him nonetheless.

“Hey!” He greeted him enthusiastically.

“Hey,” Kenma mumbled back. The poor kid looked exhausted, but he couldn’t blame him. It was his first day back to school and to this after school program. Validating Kuroo’s thoughts, Kenma yawned, placing a small hand over his mouth and blinking back some of the moisture that came to his eyes.

Kuroo smiled fondly and placed a hand on his head, which Kenma shrugged off almost immediately with a frown. 

Oops. He had forgotten, Kenma was picky and choosy with physical affection. Even more so when he was sleepy.

“It looks like this one is tired,” Kuroo laughing, “It was nice catching up. Hopefully we can talk about the good old days next time and I can catch Sawamura and Azumane.”

Sugawara laughed and nodded as Kenma gave him a small bow and polite farewell. “See you two tomorrow!”

“So, how was it?” Kuroo asked as they began to walk back to their home.

“How was what?”

“School, the after school program? Was it fun?”

“It was okay.”

This was going nowhere fast.

“Did you get along with your classmates?”

“I guess. They were all kind of loud…”

“Louder than in Tokyo?”

“Mm,” Kenma confirmed. 

Kuroo tried to conceal his worry. It was only Kenma’s first day. It wasn’t like finding your place in a new crowd was going to happen instantly, no matter how much he wanted him to and fretted. 

What would his friends have said in this moment?

Kuroo frowned to himself and disregarded the question. They weren’t there, he’d never have an answer to that. 

“I’m sure it’ll be better tomorrow,” he settled with. 

Kenma looked at him out of the corner of his eye. 

“Maybe.”

* * *

The next day, Kuroo picked up Kenma and they headed into town to, finally, get Kenma’s haircut. It had been awhile and the black locks of hair were now brushing his shoulders.

“So,” Kuroo ventured as they walked into the hair salon, “how was your day?”

“Fine.”

Nowhere again. 

He opened his mouth to ask again, but soon there was a woman ushering Kenma into the seat to get his haircut. She was probably in her early thirties and seemed completely sociable and talkative which was probably good for the other kids that came to get their haircut, but Kenma seemed to want to disappear underneath her excited voice.

“Oh my! Look how cute you are!” She gushed with a wide smile. Kenma looked like he was trying to return it, but fell a little short. “So, what do you want to do with your hair today young man?”

“Just a trim,” he said in a quiet voice.

“Just a trim?” The woman gasped. “With a cute face like yours?” Gently, she parted the strands of hair from in front of Kenma’s face to show him. “Look how good you’d look with short hair.” 

“I like my hair long s-so…”

“Look how good you’d look though! Why not give it a try?”

On cue, Kuroo watched as Kenma’s anxiety began to rise. The boy looked at him, eyes searching for help. 

Kuroo stepped forward a little and placed a hand on Kenma’s shoulder. “That’s alright, ma’am. He really likes his long hair. Maybe just two or three centimeters? Get the split ends off?”

Kenma visibly relaxed as the woman pouted and consented.

Since the cut was pretty simple, the woman finished pretty quickly. Kenma looked just about the same to Kuroo, but the way that his eyes widened just a little when he saw the finished look, all blow dried and clean, told him that he liked it and that was enough.

“Anything interesting happen at school?” Kuroo tried again on their way back home, hoping to take advantage of Kenma’s mood. He had read on some parenting blog that it was important to give kids a chance to talk about their day, but in the few months they had lived together, Kenma never had much to say.

“Not,” and there he went again, “hm…”

Oh?

“Hm?” He prodded, a little excited.

“In the after school program, this kid did something interesting.”

“Oh, yeah? What?”

“Well, we were playing with a Frisbee during one of the breaks, but someone threw it too high and it go stuck in a tree… I thought that was it because we couldn’t find Azumane-san, but then Shouyou said that he could get it out of the tree for us.”

“Did he?” Kuroo asked, even more interested now that he mentioned a name. 

“Well,” Kenma smiled a little and Kuroo raised his eyebrows, “yes… At first he was trying to see if he could reach it if he jumped, but that wasn’t working. Then, he started climbing the tree. I told him not to, but he said he’d get it back for me.” Kuroo continued to listen intently, Kenma still sounded a little amazed. “He got the Frisbee down… but then he got stuck up there. I had to find Sugawara-san who had to go get Azumane-san to get him down. He didn’t seem scared though…”

“Really? Shouyou sounds very interesting.”

To his surprise, Kenma gave a couple of nods. “Then later he…”

Kuroo smiled, maybe Kenma would be okay in the friends-making department.

* * *

“Oh, finally!” Sugawara said a few days later when Kuroo went to pick up Kenma. “You two can see each other!”

Kuroo arched a brow. “What do you mean?”

“Daichi!” The silver-haired man waved to someone behind him. Kuroo turned around to find Karasuno’s former captain walking up. His eyes languidly took the other man in. 

From what he remembered, Sawamura appeared nearly the same as he did when he was in high school, the old crow looked more masculine and grown in their third year than most other eighteen year olds that Kuroo knew. Now, his build was just broader and his face had matured so that his young face no longer contrasted with his strong jaw. He was dressed up in complete business wear, complete with a tie, still tight around his collar. Him being a businessman wouldn’t surprise him that much, thinking back to high school.

“Hey!” Sawamura grinned as he approaching. He looked from Sugawara to Kuroo, staring for a moment before Sugawara interrupted.

“Remember this guy from Nekoma?”

To Kuroo’s surprise, Sawamura nodded without hesitation. “Kuroo, holy,” he seemed to remember that kids surrounded them, “I haven’t seen you in forever!”

Sawamura extended a hand that Kuroo took and gave a shake. He couldn’t help but smirk to himself. The last time that they shook hands they were probably trying to crush every bone in each other’s hands and staring each other down with promises to crush each other.

“Been, like, ten years, Sawamura.”

“Daichi’s fine,” he corrected, with a wave of his hand, “and don’t remind me! I’m having a hard enough time dealing with how fast my kid is growing.“

Sugawara laughed next to him and gave him an affectionate punch, “You’re worrying about aging prematurely, again! You and Kiyoko are the youngest parents here! What are you fretting over?”

“Let me know your opinion when you’ve got a kid of your own,” Daichi waved off.

Sugawara stuck his tongue out and Kuroo wondered if that was habit he had picked up from his occupation.

“I have plenty more kids than you do Daichi.” Sugawara gave a pointed glance at the playing children behind him. 

Daichi opened his mouth to say something, but a young man rushed up to Sugawara with a frantic look on his face.

“Sugawara-san!” The man whined, “Come help! Kei and Tobio are at it again.”

“Can’t you deal with it?” The words weren’t harsh, but simply inquisitive.

“I would, but Azumane tried to get involved and-”

Sugawara held up a hand. “Say no more.” He turned away from the other adults and yelled inside: “Oi! Asahi just break them up, there’s no reason to be scared, they’re just seven year olds!”

“I think them being seven makes it way scarier, honestly,” Kuroo offered with a light chuckle.

“That guy never changes, huh?” Daichi said as Sugawara nodded and left then to go investigate the fight.

“Speaking of kids,” Daichi said, “you’re a parent?”

Kuroo laughed awkwardly and Daichi raised an inquisitive brow.

“Not exactly,” he began, unable to finish when a flash of orange passed in front of him and launched himself into Daichi’s arms. 

For a moment, all Kuroo could catch were small, thin limbs flailing in the air and then Daichi arms desperately clutching at the small child in his arms. From the corner of his eyes he saw Kenma walk up, also watching Daichi stumble about until he gained proper footing. 

It wasn’t as if Kenma had ever been the type of child to run and jump into his father’s arms, but Kuroo couldn’t help but wonder how watching this made him feel. Kenma had still been very close to his parents, loved dearly and constantly doted on… to the point that even Kenma protested when his parents were being overbearing. Kuroo placed a hand on his shoulder and this time Kenma let him even as he turned away from him, hiding his expression. 

“Shouyou!” Daichi gasped, catching Kuroo’s attention. 

Oh? So this was the Shouyou that Kenma was talking about?

“Dad!” Shouyou answered hands stretched out on his father’s shoulders and a large grin on his face. 

Kenma had described Shouyou as an eager kid, but he hadn’t expected that level energy. Especially not when he was the kid that Kenma had been talking about so fondly. They seemed like opposites.

He watched as Daichi let Shouyou down and immediately, he was in front of Kenma talking so quickly that he could barely catch the phrase “this is my dad.”

“Ah,” Kenma muttered, realizing that he too had an introduction to make. “This is Kuroo.” He could see that Shouyou looked a little confused, but the expression didn’t last for very long. 

“So, this is your friend?” Kuroo said pleasantly, careful not to overstep. “You know,” he addressed Shouyou now, “your Dad and me used to play volleyball together.”

“Really?” Shouyou asked excitedly. “Did you two play on the same team with Suga-san and Asahi-san?”

Daichi let out a laugh. “Of course not, we played on two very different teams.”

“Ohoho,” Kuroo laughed too, “What’re you implying? From what I remember our teams were all tied.”

Daichi raised his hands defensively, but there was still a smile on his face. “Hey, I didn’t say anything.”

“Sure, sure,” Kuroo answered back, completely unconvinced. 

They looked back to Kenma and Shouyou who were speaking to each other. It was mostly Shouyou speaking quickly in loud “whispers” at Kenma who was nodding along every so often. 

“Anything interesting to share?” Daichi asked, a warm smile on his face as he folded his arms over his chest and looked at his son expectantly.

“Kenma and I like the same games! We wanna play together over the weekend, can we?” Shouyou asked, bright eyes looking up at them excitedly. 

Kuroo’s blinked before his eyes widened. He looked from Shouyou to Kenma who was looking at him. He wouldn’t go as far to say that Kenma looked excited, but the eight year old certainly looked like he wanted him to say yes.

“That’s fine with me, as long as Kuroo-san is okay with it.” Daichi turned to him, flashing a handsome smile.

“Of course,” he responded, looking back to grin at the kids.

Look at that, Kenma had already made his first friend in Miyagi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I started shipping KuroDai out of nowhere, so what do I do? Write a fic about it. 
> 
> Attempting to write all of them in character is a bit trickier than I thought, so please bear with me as I try to figure it out.
> 
> ([tumblr](http://www.ayebibs.tumblr.com))


	2. Playdate

“So, how did it go?” Kuroo ventured awkwardly after picking up Kenma from therapy and on their way into a clothing store. 

Kenma had been going to therapy long before he came to live with Kuroo. Kenma’s anxiety had always bothered him. Whether it was keeping him up late at night, making school difficult for him, or in crowds. Kuroo remembered the struggle Kenma’s parents went through to find a proper therapist for him, there had been an unfortunate incident of one of them being way too aggressive. 

Kuroo wouldn’t stand for a repeat.

“It was alright,” he said dismissively and Kuroo wasn’t sure whether he was brushing it off or not.

“We can find someone else if it’s not going well.”

“It’s fine.” There was an annoyed, weariness behind his words, that told him that it really was fine.

“Okay, okay. Now let’s look for some new clothes for you.”

Kenma scrunched up his face, “I already have clothes.”

“Kenma…” Kuroo started, his patience watering down. “You need to get new clothes.”

Kuroo had been trying to get Kenma to get new clothes since he moved in with him. They had already gone to the mall three times and he had come home empty handed each time. Each time, Kuroo suggested several different articles of clothing that Kenma shot down without hesitation. Whether he was a child or not, wouldn’t most people be excited about new clothes? He was just being difficult now.

“I don’t,” he answered, seemingly unafraid of what would happen if Kuroo completely lost his patience.

“You do.”

“I don’t.”

Oh, no. Not this again. 

“You do.”

“I don’t.”

“You do,” Kuroo said quickly, hoping to get the last word and succumbing to the childishness.

“I don’t.”

“You’ve grown!” Kuroo sighed. “You can’t wear the same size pants forever and I’m pretty sure the sleeves of your sweaters should at least reach your wrists.”

Kenma looked away and Kuroo sighed. He wasn’t going to do this, but if he was going to be that way, then there was no use.

“Oh? You don’t want to pick out your own clothes?” He asked in a tone that made Kenma eye him suspiciously. “Then, I’ll just pick things out for you.” He walked over to a rack of clothing that was clearly not Kenma’s style. He picked up a t-shirt and held it up for him to see. It was a hideous orange shirt with neon green hems, there was slogan and mascot on it that looked vaguely familiar, probably some shounen manga that Kuroo couldn’t place. “So, when you can’t get your head into your old t-shirts, you’ll have this to rely on in your closets.”

Kenma looked at the shirt in disgust and his eyes moved from the orange and green monstrosity to Kuroo. He glared at him, which only proved to be a futile effort when met with Kuroo’s unwavering smirk. He might be new to dealing with a eight year old, but he was good at getting people to do what he wanted.

“Fine,” Kenma said with a huff. “I’ll look for clothes.”

Kuroo’s smirk morphed into a smile. He watched silently as Kenma looked through the racks. Then, with great interest, watched as Kenma’s eyes darted over to the next section. For a little Kenma would look at the clothes in front of him and then turn to look back at the section. This went on for awhile until Kuroo understood what Kenma was eyeing:

A skirt.

It was a plain thing, black with a single, silver button to the side. Pretty inconspicuous. Kuroo idly wondered whether he should say anything. It was just an article of clothing. He didn’t care what Kenma wore, as long as he was comfortable. The problem lied with how other people would react.

“Do you want to try it on?” He settled on after some thinking. Kenma jumped, not expecting him to notice what he was looking at, much less say anything about it.

“It’s a skirt,” Kenma informed him dismissively.

“Yeah. So?” He countered. “Do you want to try it on?”

Kenma looked pensive for minute before shuffling over the skirt rack and digging through to find his size. He was in and out of the fitting room quickly. He didn’t pause between items to show Kuroo, but it wasn’t as if he expected any different. He came back with only a few things, the skirt among the plain t-shirts and jeans.

“Liked it?” Kuroo asked when they got on the checkout line.

“I guess.”

“Can we go to the video game store?” Kenma asked after they checked out and left the store.

“Sure, why not?”

Kenma’s mood shifted the moment that they entered the store. Even though he was practically invisible Kenma the moment they walked in, he smiled as he hung back and watched Kenma quietly peruse the new games. His excitement was silent, but palpable. 

“Do you want to get a new game?” He asked.

Kenma’s gaze snapped from the game in his hands to Kuroo, with wide eyes and an open mouth. 

“Really?” He asked. 

“Yeah, of course,” he said without thinking, so swayed by Kenma’s rare excitement. How was he going to not spoil that kid?

After they paid and left, Kuroo got a text on their way home. 

**SAWAMURA DAICHI** : Hello. This is Daichi, Shouyou’s dad. I’m texting to confirm the play date on Saturday; is one still good?

Kuroo let out a snort and Kenma gave him a look out of the corner of his eye. Daichi’s texting was painfully formal. The man used a semicolon in a text. Kuroo couldn’t imagine using a semicolon in everyday writing much less a text to your kid’s friend’s guardian. He almost couldn’t decide how to respond. A part of him wanted to respond teasingly either just as awkwardly formal, return that semicolon, or in broken chatspeak that Daichi wouldn’t be able to decipher.

He had to consciously remind himself that it wasn’t just socializing. This was was for Kenma’s playdate. Coming off as a sarcastic little shit, even in good fun, might present uncomfortable consequences. He wasn’t screwing up Kenma’s chances for a new friend. 

**KUROO TETSUROU** : Hey. Saturday is still good for us!

He decided on after retyping his message a few times. The next text message came without much of a delay.

**SAWAMURA DAICHI** : Great. Shouyou is looking forward to it. He can’t stop talking about it.

“Who are you texting?” Kenma inquired on their way home when Kuroo was halfway through composing a reply. 

“Shouyou’s dad. He says that he’s dropping Shouyou off on Saturday. Are you excited?”

“We’re just going to be playing some video games…”

“I’m telling him that you’re excited too.” 

He said it simply to be an instigator and was quickly rewarded with Kenma’s harsh look.

“Don’t-”

“Whoops. Sent.” 

**KUROO TETSUROU** : Kenma is looking forward to it as well. See you on Saturday!

Kenma glared at him. 

“What? You’ve been looking forward to it.” He huffed and looked away. Kuroo couldn’t repress the sly grin on his face. Lightly he bumped him with his hips. “Does that mean that you don’t want to pick up snacks then? No apple pie to share?”

Still pouting, Kenma gave him a look. 

“... No.”

That’s what he thought.

* * *

On Saturday, Kuroo’s cell phone rang as he was finishing up some dishes. He scrambled to wipe his hands on a dishcloth and picked it up without checking the caller ID. He balanced the phone between his ear and shoulder and continued his work in the kitchen.

“Hello?”

“Bro!” The reply on the other end of the phone came instantly. Kuroo smiled to himself, he didn’t need called ID to recognize that voice. “We haven’t talked in two weeks! What you doing?”

“Right now? Dishes.”

“Oh! So domestic.” Bokuto laughed.

Kuroo laughed too, “What’re you up to?”

“Me and Keiji are gonna see a movie later he’s getting ready right now, so I thought I’d give you a call. We’re missing you like crazy.” Kuroo opened his mouth to return the sentiment, but Bokuto interrupted him. “Yeah, I’m talking to Kuroo,” he heard, “you want to say ‘hi?’ Hey, I’m putting you on speakerphone, Keiji wants to talk.”

“Hello? We haven’t spoken in awhile. How is Kenma doing?”

“He’s doing well, he has a playdate today, actually.” 

“Go Kenma!” Bokuto cheered and Kuroo had to stop what he was doing. He needed his hands free to pull the phone away from his ear when Bokuto got too loud. As if on cue, Kenma padded into the kitchen to get a glass of water, observing him with a curious glance. 

Kuroo told them to hold on a second and covered the microphone with his hand. “Want to talk to Bokuto and Akaashi?” He asked barely above a whisper. 

He knew how Kenma was with talking over the phone. Kenma looked like he was considering and before shaking his head “no.”

“Tell them I say ‘hello,’” he said quietly and then exited the kitchen.

“He says ‘hello,’” he relayed. 

“He doesn’t want to talk?” Bokuto sounded a little deflated. 

Whether or not Kenma admitted it, he liked Bokuto and Akaashi. Bokuto was good with children in general, even with quiet kids like Kenma. If anything, Kenma liked to beat him at Mario Kart anytime he was over. He probably liked Akaashi for another reason, being more comfortable with his softer voice and appreciating the way that Akaashi regarded him like an adult rather than patronizing him. Still, that didn’t destroy his anxiety of talking over the phone.

“Maybe next time,” Akaashi said.

“Oh,” Bokuto said, as if he remembered something, “are you two coming back to Tokyo next week because it’s y’know…?”

Kuroo was confused for a moment, but once the understanding sunk in a frown made it’s way onto his face.

“Koutarou,” Akaashi said, soft and chiding.

“Sorry,” he said quickly.

“There’s nothing to apologize for,” Kuroo shook his head even though neither of them could see it. “Yeah, we’re going to be making a trip down there for the day.”

“We’d like to come with you,” Akaashi said, “if that’s alright with you and Kenma. We wouldn’t want to upset him by being around.”

“Of course it is,” he answered, “Kenma wouldn’t mind something like that.” He paused for a moment, “You guys were friends too.”

“Not the way you were, man.”

There was an uncomfortable silence and Kuroo’s frown deepened. This happened lately. No matter the way the conversation started, things always returned to this topic… Kuroo decided to shift the conversation rather than continue. 

“So, guess who Kenma’s new friend is?”

“Who?” Bokuto asked.

“Do you remember Karasuno’s captain when we were third years? Sawamura Daichi?”

“Not really,” Akaashi said.

“Oh! Oh!” Bokuto said excitedly. “I remember him! The first years called him ‘Thighchi!’”

“What?” Kuroo sputtered through a laugh. “Thighchi? What kind of nickname is that?”

“Yeah! He had great thighs! I wonder if he still does. Does he have good thighs?” 

“It’s not like I’ve checked.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. Ogling Kenma’s new friend’s dad doesn’t really seem like a good way to kick off their relationship.”

“He’s got you there, Koutarou,” Akaashi said.

“It’s worth it if it’s for thighs.”

“Careful, Kou, keep talking about another man’s thighs and your boyfriend might get jealous.”

“I wouldn’t have lasted this long if I couldn’t put up with things like this,” Akaashi said with a small sigh.

“Oi, what’s that supposed to mean? I’m a great boyfriend.”

“I know,” Akaashi responded with all the fondness of a nine-year relationship. Kuroo could practically see the soft eyes that he was looking at Bokuto with on the other side. Third wheeling on a phone call is just as bad as third wheeling in person, if not worse. “Oh, but we should get going if we want to make that showtime.”

“Yeah! We’ll talk to you later Tetsurou?”

“You know it!”

“Bye!” They answered in unison before he heard the click. 

With work and taking care of Kenma, he hadn’t even realized that he hadn’t been in contact with Akaashi and Bokuto for two weeks. Even if it was different with his other friends, Akaashi and Bokuto were the two he was constantly in contact with, even if it was just snapchat or dumb texts every so often. Time was moving too fast and he was already getting too wrapped up. He made a mental note to try to stay in contact with them.

For the time being, however, he needed to focus on creating the best environment for a playdate. This was the first time that he’d be hosting one and he felt a lot like a fish out of water. What did kids even like to do? He couldn’t remember Kenma’s parents ever telling him about Kenma having friends over. He asked Kenma for some direction, but he didn’t get much else other than that it “wasn’t a big deal” and “anything is fine.” They had bought the apple pie, which seemed to be his only condition.

So, Kuroo might have gone a little overboard with things. 

There were two full plastic bags of snacks in addition to the apple pie. There were also three new movies that they could watch if they got tired of playing video games. Their house, that was already clean, also got another thorough cleaning. 

He just wanted it to go well.

He nearly jumped when he heard the doorbell. Before he reached it, Kenma had already silently appeared at his side to greet their guests. 

Shouyou stood in front of his father with a huge grin on his face. Looking at the pleasant smile on Daichi’s face he was briefly reminded of the conversation that he just had with Bokuto about his thighs. He was tempted to look down and take a good look to see whether or not anything had changed over the past ten years, but he had some semblance of control. That and the particular jeans that he wore probably weren’t very yielding to the shape of his thighs.

“Hey, Kenma!” Shouyou greeted before saying anything else, earning him a gentle nudge from Daichi. “Oh! Here, we brought this for you.” He handed over a plastic bag he was holding as a small, customary gift. From the looks of box, it was a little cake. 

Kuroo realized then that he had, in fact, bought way too many snacks. He brushed the thought off and looked back at Daichi. 

“So, I’ll be back in a few hours. Is that alright?”

“Of course, you’ve got my number.”

“Okay.” Daichi turned his gaze to his son and his tone hardened. “Shouyou, be good. Remember your manners.”

At this point Shouyou had already bounced over to Kenma.

“I will, Dad!” The affirmation sounded just a touch like a whine, more to appease his father.

“We’re going to use the Wii,” Kenma said.

“Alright, go ahead.” 

The two boys disappeared into the house and Kuroo caught Daichi staring past him with a worried look.

“I can handle them.” Kuroo leaned against the doorframe.

Daichi laughed and shook his head, “I’m sure you can, but at what cost?”

“True, true,” Kuroo laughed back.

“Well, I’m going to run a couple of errands, so if anything comes up, like I said, you can reach me on my phone.”

“See you later.”

* * *

The playdate was far simpler than Kuroo thought it would be. Mostly the two sat together on the couch playing Super Smash Bros. From the sound of it, Kenma was dominating as he always did and Shouyou seemed to be having some difficulty. To Kuroo’s surprise, Kenma was being relatively patient with him, much more than he was with Kuroo when he couldn’t get the hang of a video game fast enough.

“It’ll be easier if you use combos…” He heard Kenma say.

“Like what?”

“Like this….” 

“Oh! Like this?”

“... Um, close,” Kenma said softly and Kuroo had to stifle a laugh behind his hand. “Maybe we should watch a movie for now.”

As they watched the movie together, Kuroo busied himself with housework and responding to work emails until he heard a knock at the door. 

“Oh, they’re in the middle of a movie right now,” Kuroo said when he opened the door to find Daichi. “Do you want to come in and have a drink? Should be done in twenty minutes or so.”

“Yes, thanks.” Kuroo lead him into the kitchen and offered him a seat at the table. 

“Tea, coffee, water?” Kuroo listed off.

“Water is fine.” Kuroo had the feeling that Daichi just didn’t want to impose, but fetched him a glass of water anyway. “So, how were they?” 

“Good,” Kuroo said. He resisted the urge to add that it went surprisingly well and come across as if he had no idea what he was doing. Instead he joked, “Shouyou gets along with Kenma so well, I’m a little jealous.”

Daichi didn’t respond right away and Kuroo caught him eying him with a pensive expression. It didn’t take much for him to understand what Daichi was thinking. 

“You’re curious?” Kuroo asked, when he saw Daichi searching for words.

“What?”

“About why I’m looking after Kenma.”

Daichi looked thrown for a loop. His cup stopped halfway to his lips, stuttered closer, and then returned to table.

“Ah, sorry,” he started with an awkward admittance and looked away. “It’s none of my business.”

“No, it’s fine.” Kuroo waved a dismissive hand in front of his face. 

When Daichi asked whether or not he was parent, he answered vaguely. Now Daichi’s son had been under his care for a few hours and had spent time with Kenma. It might’ve been a better time to explain it to Daichi. From Kuroo’s admittedly limited knowledge of children, they were always curious and asking questions, so maybe it would be easier on both of them if Shouyou became inquisitive. 

“Kenma’s parents were my close friends and upperclassmen in high school and college. Almost four months they died in a car crash,” he explained. It had been one hundred and ten days, but there was no reason to include that detail. “It was a drunk driver,” he continued. “Before everything happened, they asked me if I would take care of Kenma if something happened to them… and something happened.”

“I’m sorry,” Daichi said. His eyebrows were furrowed together and his were lips pressed into a frown. He looked like he was caught up in some thoughts himself.

Kuroo was never really sure how to respond to “I’m sorry.” He was always caught between a slightly exasperated, “it’s not your fault” or just “thank you.”

“Thank you.” He decided on, looking at the serious expression on Daichi’s face. There was another pause and he decided to lighten the mood. “It’s certainly different than babysitting him, you know. I imagine hell is very similar to trying to get an eight year old to eat something other than just plain rice for a week. He wouldn’t even use furikake. I’m not really sure what that was about.”

Daichi’s eyes widened at the sudden change of pace and then let out a laugh. “I hear that’s a pretty common phase, actually. I have the opposite problem, Shouyou could probably pack away his weight in food. How he’s still so tiny is anyone’s guess,” Daichi sighed. “He gets that from his mother, I suppose. I’m surprised Tokyo has any food left.”

“Tokyo?” Kuroo asked.

“Oh, Shouyou’s mother and I are divorced,” he clarified, “she moved down there about a year ago for work.”

Oh, so Daichi was a single parent. He hadn’t expected that.

“What part of-”

“That movie was so cool!” Shouyou gushed as he and Kenma walked into the kitchen together. “She was all like ‘GWAH’ and ‘WHOOSH!’”

“It was good,” Kenma agreed, less enthusiastically. 

“Dad!” Shouyou greeted when he seemed to finally notice Daichi. “You’re here already?” Shouyou looked disappointed. “I didn’t get a chance to beat Kenma yet.”

“Beat Kenma?”

“He kept winning!” Kenma looked slightly distressed at Shouyou’s whining, until Shouyou turned to face him and grabbed his shoulders. Kenma’s eyes widened as Shouyou gave him a few shakes. “Next time!”

“‘N-next time’ what?” Kenma got out as Shouyou shook him. 

“Next time I’ll beat you!”

“Shouyou!” Daichi said, reaching out to stop him as Kuroo laughed. 

“Really! I’m going to beat you! Okay?” 

“Okay,” Kenma said with a small smile, “I’ll look forward to it.”

Shouyou beamed back at him, his smile so bright that it was practically blinding. 

“Then, we’ll have to schedule another time for you two to play together,” Daichi said, flashing Kuroo a quick smile and ruffling Shouyou’s hair. 

“Sounds like a plan.” 

Kuroo and Kenma walked them to the door where Shouyou held his father’s hand with one hand and waved goodbye furiously with the other. 

“Ohoho…” Kuroo laughed as he and Kenma hung by the door and watched as Daichi and Shouyou walked away.

“What?” Kenma asked, looking at him. His eyebrows were already furrowed, waiting in anticipation for Kuroo to say something stupid.

“‘I’ll look forward to it.’” He mocked, lightly bumping his hip into him.

“Be quiet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everyone! Thanks so much for the comments and kudos on the first chapter! They really mean a lot and inspire me to keep working! 
> 
> Just some housekeeping things: I've added a couple of tags ("Slow Burn" and "Minor or Background Relationship(s)," in case anyone isn't into that) and updated the chapter number. ~~This is officially the second chapter of seventeen chapters, or, rather, sixteen chapters and an epilogue.~~ It's slightly subject to change (but I don't anticipate it), just to give you guys a heads up for what you're in for.
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> ([tumblr](http://www.ayebibs.tumblr.com))


	3. Birthdays

Kuroo took a sip from his coffee and stared out the window of the café. He closed his eyes. He was pretty sure the point of a break was to relax, but that wasn’t happening any time soon. He ran a hand through his hair, only remembering that he had tried to tame it that morning to look more professional after it returned to it’s normal state of disarray.

“Kuroo?” He opened his eyes to find Daichi standing in front of his table with a cup and briefcase in hand. Kuroo’s mouth dropped open, he hadn’t expected to see him here. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” Kuroo said, and then again when Daichi didn’t look convinced, “yeah. I’m just on my lunch break. You too?”

Daichi nodded.

“Would you like to sit down?”

“I don’t want to intrude,” he said awkwardly.

“Just sit down,” Kuroo said with a laugh, “it’s not like there are any free tables anyway.”

Daichi took a look around the coffee shop to find that Kuroo was right. Even though the only area that looked completely congested was the line at the counter, no other seats seemed to be empty. There was a free stool a few feet away, but it was between a college student whose papers were sprawled out into the empty space and a man talking loudly on his cellphone. Kuroo smiled as Daichi sighed.

“In that case, pardon the intrusion…” Daichi sat down across from him. “So, you work around here?”

“Just down the street at laboratories. I’m there as a chemical laboratory technician.”

“Oh, my firm is a little farther away, but the coffee is best here,” Daichi said, taking a drink from his cup.

“It’s really good,” Kuroo said with a nod, “I’ve been going here during my break recently. It’s a good replacement for the place I used to go to in Tokyo.”

It was a bigger place than in Tokyo and several times less congested. Back in Tokyo there’d likely be no place to stand, much less to sit. He would’ve taken his coffee and headed back to work, not hang around and chat with someone.

“By the way,” Daichi began, “I wanted to ask you whether or not you’d be interested playing volleyball now that you’re in the area? Koushi, Asahi, and a group of us play sometimes.”

“Looking to get competitive?”

“I’d love to pick our old tally up again,” Daichi said, “but, it’s actually our team that needs a player.”

“I don’t know,” Kuro mused jokingly, “seems kind of traitorous.” The two laughed. “No, but seriously, thanks for inviting me. I was missing it. Back in Tokyo, I played with some of my old friends from Nekoma and Fukurodani, but I haven’t got a chance to play since we’ve moved here.”

“Are you making up excuses now?” Daichi asked, with a laugh.

“No, no. Don’t you worry, I’m still a fantastic middle blocker.”

“I see you’ve also gotten more humble with age.”

“Humble enough, anyway, you’re still sitting there.”

“Because as you pointed out there are no other seats.”

“Then, you’ll have to put up with my bragging.”

Daichi groaned jokingly, “All I wanted was a cup of coffee and a chair.”

Suddenly, Daichi’s phone beeped.

“Excuse me,” he said politely, before digging it out of his pocket.

As he looked through the text message and typed a reply, Kuroo’s attention was brought back to his cup of coffee. He stared at it for a bit before drifting back to the thoughts he was wrapped up in before Daichi joined him. He leaned his chin on his hand and frowned at the lid of his cup.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Daichi asked, jarring Kuroo from his thoughts. He looked up from his cup to find Daichi looking at him. He opened his mouth to reiterate what he said before, but Daichi spoke again, “You seem kind of far away. I don’t want to pry, but it might help get your mind off it if you talk about it.”

“That’s your inner dad speaking,” Kuroo teased lightly making Daichi laugh a little.

“Maybe, but my offer still stands.”

Kuroo rubbed the back of his neck. He wasn’t sure that venting his feelings to an acquaintance would make him feel any better, but his stress was up and he was having trouble thinking about anything else. Daichi was also the only parent that he sort of knew to talk about his issue with.

“In a few days,” he started and looked out the window again briefly, “it’ll be Kenma’s mother’s birthday.” Daichi’s lips parted in surprise, but stayed quiet, urging him to continue. “It’s the first day like this that we’re going to go through. I’m not sure how it’s going to go. Outside of making plans to travel to Tokyo and visit her grave, he hasn’t said anything. Her birthdays used to be a big thing.”

“A big thing?”

“Celebrating with her friends and family was really important for her and Kenma’s father,” Kuroo had intended to stop there, but the way Daichi looked at him so intensely made him elaborate. “Her parents disowned her when she decided to be with Kenma’s father after high school. They own some cosmetics company or something and I guess they were hoping that she’d get together with someone different. Before Kenma was born they moved to France and left her behind, so birthdays were always a really lonely time for her. Kenma’s father took this really tragic day for her and turned it into a happy occasion for her.” Kuroo chewed on his lip. “There’s no way to make this any less tragic for Kenma.”

“It’s going to be a really hard day for him,” Daichi agreed.

“He won’t talk to me about anything, though,” Kuroo said and shook his head. “I’ve been reading all of these different parenting forums and about situations like ours and nothing’s worked. I don’t want to push him into speaking about anything painful, but…” Kuroo sighed and stared down at his cup of coffee.

“This might sound like awful advice,” Daichi began, “but as long as you keep encouraging him and letting him know that you’re there for him, he’ll open up to you eventually.”

“I feel like he used to talk to me way more before we started living together.”

Daichi gave a knowing nod, “You’re not a friend anymore, you’re his caretaker.”

“Exactly. Though, part of it is, of course, what happened. He wasn’t loud or excitable before either, but he was a different.”

“I can’t imagine what he’s going through.”

“Neither can I,” Kuroo said softly.

“It can be easy on you either… You seemed really close to Kenma’s parents.”

“We were close, I knew his mother since I was really small and Kenma’s father was a setter on our team in high school, but it’s not about me, it’s about Kenma.”

“You still lost your friends,” Daichi said gently, looking at him with a level of concern that surprised him.

Kuroo broke their eye contact and glanced out the window again.

“Kenma’s the one who lost his parents.”

Kuroo never had time to think about it like that. Kenma was the one who lost the most important people in the world to him. The one who lost his caretakers. The one who lost people to cuddle up to when he couldn’t sleep. The one who lost his favorite video game partners. He was the one who lost his major source love and affection.

Kuroo had lost some of the most amazing people that he knew, but Kenma was the one who lost his parents.

Daichi looked like he wanted to say something else, but didn’t. Instead, he frowned and nodded sadly.

“I’m glad that he’s making friends in Miyagi, though,” Kuroo said, in an attempt to shift the conversation.

“He certainly is making friends,” Daichi laughed a little, “Shouyou won’t stop talking about him, you know. He’s really amazed by him.”

“Kenma likes Shouyou just as much.”

Daichi’s phoned beeped again. Daichi looked down and frowned at it.

“It looks like I need to return to work,” he said apologetically.

“Sorry for making your break so depressing.” Kuroo was half joking, but Daichi regarded him seriously.

“No, thanks for confiding in me. I know we aren’t close or anything, but I know what it’s like to take care of a kid. So, if you ever have questions… or you need to talk, you have my number.”

“Sawamura,” Kuroo began.

“Daichi,” he corrected a second time with a smile.

“Thank you,” Kuroo finished.

“Anytime. I’ll see you later.” With that, Daichi waved and left him sitting by himself, thinking that he had also made a friend.

* * *

Kuroo sat in bed and scrolled through forums dedicated to being the guardian of an orphaned child. It was nearly midnight and since he and Kenma would be traveling to Tokyo tomorrow to visit his parent’s grave, he should’ve been trying to sleep. In his defense, he had given it a try, but it felt impossible to keep his eyes closed for more than a few minutes.

Instead, he was on his computer, doing his best to research how to ease the day for Kenma. There weren’t many topics on the forums, but he still clicked through each thread and read the responses thoroughly. Mostly Kuroo scrunched his nose up at the responses. None looked even vaguely useful, but he wasn’t sure what he expected from the internet.

As he read, he heard a knock at his door, making him jump. It was late, what was Kenma doing up?

“Kenma? You can come in.” Kuroo closed his laptop and placed it on the bedside table.

The door creaked open to reveal Kenma standing out in the hall in his pajamas. Kenma looked down at his toes that he was curling and uncurling.

“What are you doing up?” Kuroo asked softly. “It’s so late.”

“I can’t sleep.” 

Kuroo couldn’t tell whether or not Kenma was folding his arms over his chest or hugging himself, but it looked like he wanted to be swallowed up. He looked at Kuroo tentatively. 

“Kuro, can I sleep with you tonight?”

“Of course,” he said, despite being surprised by the question. He pulled the blankets back and moved closer towards the other side of the bed to give him space.

Kenma walked over and crawled into the bed, close to the edge and facing away from Kuroo.

“I’m going to turn the light off,” he said. Now that Kenma was there, he no longer had an excuse to stay up and research.

Kenma made a vague noise and Kuroo flicked off the light. He laid back properly in bed and stared at the ceiling.

“Last year, Dad got Mom an awful cake,” Kenma said quietly.

Kuroo turned to look at the back of Kenma’s head, “I remember that. He got her a cake with a lemon custard.”

“She hated lemon.”

“Yeah… The face she made when she bit into it was priceless.” He laughed a little at the memory.

“He was going to get her a really great cake this year and her favorite flowers.”

“We can still get her favorite flowers.”

“We’ll leave a little early and pick some up before we visit her grave.”

“Yeah…”

“You should try to sleep,” Kuroo encouraged.

“It’s going to be a long trip,” Kenma muttered.

“You can bring your game with you,” Kuroo suggested.

“No, I can’t,” Kenma whispered.

“Why not?”

“I can’t play it,” he said this even softer.

Come to think of it, he hadn’t seen Kenma playing any games recently.

“Did it break?” Kuroo asked, feeling confused. “We can always see if we can get it fixed or replace it.”

“That’s not it.”

“Then what is it?”

“Nothing,” Kenma’s voice cracked and Kuroo flinched.

They were talking about a game, why would he be upset? Kenma was silent, but Kuroo didn’t fail to catch the way he started to shake and then the soft sound of sniffling.

“Kenma, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re crying,” Kuroo pointed out as gently as he could.

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

“I’m not.”

Kuroo wasn’t going to continue that.

“Kenma, what’s going on?” He placed a hand on his arm. The little light filtering in from the window softened the darkness of the room enough for him to see Kenma peer back at him tentatively with watery eyes. Then, he was shuffling, turning around to him and burying his face into Kuroo’s shirt.

“I forget,” he sniffed.

“You forget?”

“I forget when I’m playing video games.”

“Forget what?” Kuroo asked, mad at himself for having to ask and not being able to just know.

“I forget that they’re gone for a little bit. I forget to be sad and I… I can’t do that. I’m supposed to… I’m the worst…”

Kuroo’s eyes widened as Kenma cried harder into his chest. He hugged him tightly as he rubbed his small back.

There were so many things that he wanted to say, but the first thing that slipped out of his mouth was, “Oh, Kenma, no. You’re not.”

A hand moved to stroke Kenma’s hair in an attempt to soothe him. He knew videogames were a coping mechanism for him, but he hadn’t once thought that he’d feel guilty about it.

“But I miss them.”

“I know, I know,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that you have to feel sad all the time. You’re not a bad person if you want to enjoy your video games. Your parents,” Kuroo paused, not realizing how emotional he was until his voice cracked and he had to steel himself. “Your parents,” he tried again, “wouldn’t want you to be sad all the time.”

“But I should-”

“You’re not required to feel sad all of the time. You never have to feel guilty about feeling a certain way. Okay?”

Kenma didn’t say anything.

“Okay?”

“Okay,” Kenma mumbled against his chest. Then, a choked, “I really miss them.”

“I know,” Kuroo said, feeling absolutely helpless as Kenma gripped his t-shirt and his sobbing started up again. 

He let him cry it out. He hadn’t seen him so upset since the accident. Often he’d pick him up from therapy to find his eyes red and still slightly damp or aid him through the tail end of an anxiety attack, but this was the first time in the four months that they lived together that he had cried like this in front of him.

“It’s okay,” he whispered as he held Kenma a little tighter.

Kuroo closed his eyes as a suffocating regret filled him.

Those words felt like a lie.

It was okay that Kenma had come to his room when he was feeling sad, that he trusted him enough to. It wasn’t okay that his parents were dead. It wasn’t okay that he had to live with this pain.

Kuroo couldn’t think of anything that was less okay.

He didn’t repeat himself, as Kenma cried and he alternated between patting his head and rubbing circles on his back.

“I’m here,” he said instead because at least that was true. He desperately hoped that it provided at least some comfort.

It wasn’t until much later that Kenma finally calmed down, but eventually the sobs relaxed into soft, rhythmic breathing. Kuroo’s shirt was wet with tears and snot, but at least Kenma had finally fallen asleep.

Even with him asleep in his arms, he was reluctant to let his mind wander. It, of course, didn’t feel much like wandering as it did a collision when memories came rushing back to him.

It was past midnight now, it would’ve been her birthday. She’d have been thirty-one.

For the past few months he did his best to suppress all memories of them: good, bad, or anything in between. He was remembering now, starting with the birthday that Kenma had brought up. How she reacted to that lemon cake with the same scrunched up face that Kenma made when he was displeased.

Then, he thought about something completely different: the look on her face when she told him Nekoma’s women’s volleyball team was going to nationals. Then, the look on her face when she was called an “ace” for the first time. When Kenma’s father proposed, when they got married, the first time she handed Kenma off to him when he was only a two weeks old.

The memories of his friends snowballed overwhelmingly until his eyes stung and he had to close them to keep any tears from falling. Swallowing, he tried to push back the memories and told himself to sleep, repeating it over and over until he finally drifted off.

* * *

Kuroo woke up the next morning before his alarm sounded with pain pulsing in his head and a sore arm courtesy of Kenma’s head using it as a pillow. When he nudged Kenma awake it was clear that he wasn’t feeling very well either. A frown was plastered on his face and his eyes seemed to refuse to fully open despite how much he rubbed at them.

Somewhat reluctantly, Kuroo managed to get out of bed. For a moment, Kenma only sat up staring into space forlornly, until Kuroo reminded him of the time and he climbed out bed to get ready.

Kenma ultimately decided against taking his game on the train with them, not that it made much of a difference since the late night had taken it’s toll and he nodded asleep on Kuroo’s shoulder. Kuroo also made the mistake of thinking that he could blink for just a second longer and fell asleep before their stop. The doors of the train nearly closed at their heels after a woman tripped over his foot and spurred him into panic, dragging a partially conscious Kenma off the train. 

Their first stop was the flower shop where they picked up the large bouquet of her favorite flowers that Kenma insisted on holding even though it looked overwhelming in his arms, brightly colored flowers covering parts of his nose and mouth. Though, when they met up with Bokuto and Akaashi, it did shield him from Bokuto enveloping him in a bear hug that Kuroo welcomed instead. Even though Kenma wasn’t the biggest fan of Bokuto’s tight embraces, Kuroo always felt a certain comfort when his friend pulled him into a hug. He was glad that they were there, just as they confirmed on the phone the other week. 

The weather didn’t seem to match the day. The sun felt so bright and hot and Kuroo could notice Kenma’s discomfort even though he seemed to hold back his complaints. It felt like a day that they should be visiting the beach or having a picnic, he thought as Kenma placed the bouquet on her grave. Hearing the cicadas and birds, he couldn’t help but think that it should have been raining instead.

Kenma looked at the grave silently and Kuroo didn’t need to look at him to know that he was trying not cry. Akaashi placed a hand on Kenma’s shoulder and then Kenma was wiping furiously at his wet cheeks. Akaashi’s consoling hand turned into a hug and soon Kenma was caught between the three adults. He didn’t even protest for the few first few moments that he was sandwiched in between them, but eventually the heat won out and he started to squirm, little hands pushing them away accompanied by the insistence that he didn’t need to be hugged.

The rest of the day passed by quietly and was spent in Bokuto and Akaashi’s apartment. They had meant to keep the atmosphere as light as possible for Kenma but the conversations naturally shifted to discussions of memories of his parents, but he didn’t seem to mind. Bokuto’s animated story about the prank Kenma’s mother pulled on his father after one of their matches and his father’s retaliation even got Kenma to crack a smile.

After that they no longer tiptoed around subject and talked about their memories freely. They laughed and cried and, at points, laughed and cried at the same time. They indulged Kenma’s questions about his parents with answers that he couldn’t get from them. They continued like that until Kenma was half asleep and it was time to leave. Kuroo offered to give him a piggyback ride to the train station that Kenma, expectedly, declined with a slightly insulting scoff.

“Kuro?” Kenma called just above a whisper when they had boarded the train and sat down.

“Hm?”

“Thank you for taking me.”

“Any time.” He meant it. 

“Yesterday,” he said quietly, staring at the tips of his sneakers, “I was scared to visit them.”

“Why?” Kuroo asked looking at him out of the corner of his eyes. 

“I don’t know,” he admitted and began to pick at the corner of his nail, a habit that Kuroo gently stopped by separating his fingers. Kenma pouted briefly, but then surprised him by continuing to talk, “It helped. Visiting with them and hearing about mom and dad.” Kuroo nearly missed Kenma nervously glancing from his shoes to look at him.

That was all that mattered.

Kuroo smiled and threw an arm around his shoulders, letting him rest his head against him.

“I’m glad, Kenma.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the comments and kudos you've been leaving! They brighten my day and make me smile whenever I read them.
> 
> Also, I just wanted to mention that this fic is not beta'd and I've been noticing quite a few embarrassing errors in the previous chapters as time goes on, please bear with me as I go back and fix them!
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> ([tumblr](http://www.ayebibs.tumblr.com))
> 
> ( **EDIT:** I had some issues with this chapter and ended up deleting and reuploading it quickly, if anything seems off to you! Sorry if that affected any of you or your notifications got hit twice.)


	4. Dinner for Four

When Kenma stepped out of his room for his playdate with Shouyou Kuroo couldn't help but worry. Kenma looked great, in his opinion. In his hoodie and skirt, he actually looked much more interested in what he was wearing than he normally did. Shouyou was such a bright, happy kid that Kuroo couldn't imagine Kenma's outfit being any kind of issue, but he was still nervous. It didn’t slip his mind that kids could be cruel.

"You look good," he told him in earnest.

Kenma blushed, but still responded, "I look the same."

Fair enough, he thought until Shouyou one-upped him when he arrived with his father.

"Kenma!" He greeted as cheerily as any other day, already easing some of Kuroo's worry. "Wah! You look so cool! I like your skirt!"

He couldn't help but laugh at himself when Kenma looked so pleased at the compliment and responded with a shy thanks.

Like the other times they played together during the summer, Kuroo could hear every time that Shouyou won or lost a game. The latter, of course, was more common than the former and accompanied with a loud groan. It always provided a good, little laugh. 

“Aw, you’re here already?” Shouyou whined when Daichi came to pick him up.

“Is that anyway to greet your dad?” Daichi folded his arms over his chest even though there was no edge to his voice.

“Sorry,” Shouyou said with a smile. “Me and Kenma were just having a lot of fun.”

“You two can play together another day, we need to go grab something to eat.”

"What's for dinner?" Shouyou asked innocently.

Daichi tensed and rubbed the back of his neck. He suddenly looked uncomfortable.

"I was thinking that we could pick up something from the convenience store," he said.

Shouyou frowned, "Again?"

Kuroo winced. That must've been a little embarrassing.

"You know, you're welcome to stay for dinner," Kuroo offered.

Daichi looked at him surprised, as if he immediately wanted to accept the offer, but then paused and waved a dismissive hand.

"No," he said, "it's alright, we wouldn't want to impose."

"You wouldn't be," Kuroo assured. "I assumed that Shouyou would be staying for dinner, anyway." He also always cooked enough for the next day or two. With his schedule, it wasn't like he had time to cook full meals every day.

Daichi opened his mouth to decline again, but Kenma interrupted this time.

"Kuro cooks okay."

That was his version of a compliment. Kuroo couldn't figure out whether it was genuine or if he just wanted Shouyou to stay for dinner. After all, Kenma was a picky eater and most things he cooked were tirelessly picked and nibbled at. 

"Oh?" Daichi asked looking from the kids to Kuroo. "If you really don't mind."

"Not at all," Kuroo said. "It'll just take another few minutes. You boys can go play, if you'd like." 

Shouyou and Kenma didn't need to be told again and disappeared to, likely, continue playing video games.

"How were they?" Daichi asked conversationally, accompanying Kuroo into their kitchen.

"Good. Quiet."

"Shouyou? Quiet?" Daichi asked. "Either you're lying to me or you need to let me in on your secret." 

Kuroo grinned. 

"Well, maybe well-behaved describes them better." 

"Ah, well that's good to hear." Daichi looked over at the pots on the stove. "Looks good, do you cook often?"

"Most days."

"Huh, I really need to improve my cooking skills."

"You can't cook?"

"Well, I can, but not well."

"That's kind of surprising."

"Why is that?"

"You seem like the type of person to have earned all thirty of your ‘Number One Dad’ mugs. Make pancakes in the shape of Hello Kitty or something. "

Daichi laughed, "I think that you have a pretty skewed view of me. I'm mostly fumbling around as a parent."

"I don't think so," Kuroo said shaking his head as he gave one of the pots on the stove a stir. 

“What do you mean?”

"Anyone who's raised a kid like Shouyou isn't just fumbling around."

Daichi looked at him in surprise, a soft pink rising on his cheeks as he lightly rubbed the back of his neck. Kuroo smiled at Daichi’s bashfulness before turning his attention back to his cooking. 

"Thank you," he said, "but I only have two."

"Two?"

"'Number One Dad' mugs."

Kuroo snorted. 

Daichi took another look at the stove, trying to peering at one of the pots with a clear lid. "It really does look delicious."

"Everything that I cook is just from some random recipes online," Kuroo said, "it's not like I'm a naturally good cook. I'll send you some links, if you'd like."

"I don't know if they'll be of any use to me, I'm awful in the kitchen... but I'll have to have you and Kenma over for dinner one night." 

"For convenience store food or for your cooking?" Kuroo joked lightly.

"Ouch. You might like the convenience store food better than my cooking. Less likely that you'll get food poisoning."

"Don't scare me now."

They continued chatting as Kuroo finished cooking, Daichi helping him plate things and organize even after Kuroo told him that it was fine. 

Kuroo watched when Daichi took the first bite of his food, feeling nervous. There was no need since Daichi’s eye widened and he immediately went for another bite.

"Kuroo, this is delicious!"

"Like I said, I'll send you the recipe."

"I doubt that I could replicate this."

"It's much simpler than it looks."

Kuroo was relieved to see Shouyou enjoying his food. Just as Daichi mentioned awhile back, Shouyou seemed to be eating without any problems—aside from his small fingers that hadn't quite grasped the fine motor skills to hold the chopsticks perfectly and would occasionally drop a stray vegetable or piece of meat back to his bowl. Kenma, on the other hand, did not seem to enjoy his meal as much. He was picking little bits out of the dish set in the middle of the table, avoiding certain vegetables and any decent slice of meat. 

Kuroo leaned over and plucked a large piece of meat from the dish and laid it over Kenma's bowl of rice. Kenma looked up at him with a pout and Kuroo returned it with a stare and a small smirk, silently daring him to say something. Kenma was the first to break eye contact, the pout on his face only removed when he opened his mouth to eat. Each chew seemed slow and agonizing, but Kuroo had gotten him to eat a slightly more balanced meal. He heard Daichi laugh softly, a sign that he was privy to the nonverbal exchange that just happened. Shouyou only paused for a moment to look at them with a confused look, before starting on his food again. 

Watching Shouyou and Kenma interact at the dinner table was fascinating. It was almost like they had their own little language that he couldn't decipher. Shouyou spoke endearingly—but confusingly—in sound effects that Kenma sometimes struggled to keep up with. The look on Kenma’s face while he talked to Shouyou eased him. It was like some of the weight that Kenma carried with him was lifted from his shoulders. It was nice to hear both of them talking so excitedly at the table, whether it was about their friends or something that happened in a manga.

Shouyou was in the middle of answering a question that Kuroo asked about the game they were playing when Daichi's phone rang. Immediately, he grabbed for it mumbling an apology. He frowned looking at his phone, a confused expression on his face. 

"Sorry," he muttered, "I need to answer this."

"No problem," Kuroo said shaking his head and waving him off. 

Daichi stood up from the table and disappeared into the kitchen. 

"Ah, so I was saying," Shouyou said, pausing and frowning at the lump of rice in his bowl that wouldn't stay between his chopsticks. "I can't get past the gym. It's really, really hard. I've been stuck on it for, like, five days."

"Which gym?" Kenma asked.

"The fighting-type one," Shouyou pouted.

The look of distress on Kenma's face was priceless.

"Shouyou," he began heavily, "that's only the second gym."

"Yeah," he answered oblivious to Kenma's meaning. "It's really hard to beat."

“What Pokémon are you using?” he asked urgently. 

It was around there that Kuroo checked out as Shouyou listed his line up of Pokémon, often describing them by their appearance rather than their names. He got up and started clearing the table, after making a valiant, but futile attempt to get Kenma to eat more.

He walked to the kitchen, stopping awkwardly when he found that Daichi was still on the phone. There was a hard look on his face as he ran a hand through his cropped hair. His eyebrows were knitted together and a strict frown sat on his face.

"You told him that you'd come and pick him up," Daichi said, his voice strained. "You said that you'd show him around Tokyo and that he could spend a the weekend at your place. Were you just bullshitting everything that you told him? Do you feel bad at all?"

There was a small pause and he heard Daichi sigh. 

"I know," he said, sounding exasperated. "I know, but you can't just tell him that you're going to do something with him and then not come through. You know that." Another pause and a sigh. "Being there for him financially isn't the only responsibility of being a parent..."

Daichi turned suddenly, noticing Kuroo's awkward position in the kitchen. For a minute the malice in his face dropped and he muttered a quick "hold on a moment" into the phone before waving him in and softly apologizing.

Daichi stood in the hallway leading to the kitchen, only out of earshot from where the kids were sitting and not where Kuroo stood.

"If you knew that I'm not sure we'd be having this conversation," Daichi snapped suddenly, as Kuroo dropped the dishes in the sink. 

He felt uncomfortable, but wasn't sure how to save himself from overhearing the other man's conversation. He turned on the water hoping that it’d drown out some of the words, but it made no difference.

"He looks forward to seeing you. He hasn't seen you in awhile... I know you talk to him twice a day on the phone. No, he's not going to make a big deal out of it, but that doesn't mean that he won't be upset... Sure, he will." He sighed again. "I don't want to argue about this right now, okay? I need you to try a little harder, I know you're busy, but," Daichi's voice softened, "he's our son. It's okay, it's just been the last few months. I get that you need to focus on work... I know that you don't like this either, I'm sorry for snapping at you. No, it's okay, I'll tell him. Give him a call tomorrow morning. Alright, take care. Goodbye."

Daichi walked back into the kitchen and Kuroo tried to focus his attention on scrubbing out a tiny piece of dried food from the pot in his hands. 

"Sorry, I was going to help you clean up," Daichi said, leaning on the counter next to the sink.

"Don't worry about it," Kuroo said. 

He immediately searched for something to say to fill the awkward silence that they fell into, but came up empty. 

"You heard all of that?" Daichi asked eventually.

"I didn't mean to."

"I know."

The sound of the running water and the plates and bowls knocking around seemed too loud in the absence of any words.

"You probably figured out that It was Shouyou's mother," he said softly. "I hope you don't have a bad opinion of her just because of that conversation. It's not like this is an everyday thing. It's just that she promised Shouyou that she was going to make a trip to Miyagi and then he could go to Tokyo and spend some time with her and this is the second time that she's canceled and... I’m rambling and you really don't need to hear this."

"It's fine," Kuroo said, finishing up the dishes and leaning on the opposite counter. "It must be hard to raise a kid separately, but together."

"It usually isn't," Daichi admitted. "Well, sometimes, but I thought we were handling it pretty well until the past month rolled around. It made sense that Shouyou stayed with me, her job is more demanding. She's a good mom, it's just that she gets caught up in her work sometimes and doesn't know how to balance everything just yet. I just feel bad when I have to tell him that his mother can't visit him, you know?"

"I bet.” 

"Sometimes I feel like I don't know what I'm doing, like I might mess up his future," Daichi said and then froze. His hand seemed to go instinctively to cover his mouth, like he spilled some secret. "I mean," he scrambled.

"I know what you mean," Kuroo said, saving him from explaining, “I feel that way with Kenma.” He mustered up an empathetic smile even with a discomfort swirling in the pit of his stomach, "Like he doesn't belong with me, deserves better."

"Exactly," Daichi said softly.

Kuroo hesitated, but decided to speak his mind anyway, "For what it's worth, I meant what I said earlier, I think that Shouyou is a really great kid. He seems to be doing just fine with you."

It felt strange to be saying that to someone that you hadn’t been friends with for a very long time, but any awkwardness that he felt was assauged by Daichi’s warm smile.

"You too, you know. You really seem to understand Kenma. He's obviously very cared for."

They met each other's eyes and then looked away. Kuroo grabbed the dish cloth on the counter to wring in his idle hands, anything to distract him from how embarrassingly personal the conversation became. Daichi seemed to do the same thing, focusing on a spot on the ceiling and drumming his fingers awkwardly against the surface of the counter.

"Wow, it's late," Daichi said, not so subtly looking at his watch. "Thank you. I mean, thank you for dinner and, well, for... I really..."

"No... yeah, thanks for... staying for dinner," Kuroo jumped in just as awkwardly. "Kenma had a lot of fun with Shouyou."

"Good!" Daichi said a little too loudly. "I'm glad, I'm glad. Uh... Oh, really, you should come over for dinner one day. I’ll use the recipes that you send me."

"Planning to poison me and just end this discomfort?" Kuroo said running a hand through his hair. 

That seemed to cut the tension and calmed both of them down a little.

“I was thinking about it,” Daichi let out a small laugh. “I’ll see you at the volleyball game then?” 

“You got it.”

Finally out of the awkward trap that fell into, Daichi and Kuroo went to find the kids that were finishing up a video game. With some reluctance Shouyou and Kenma parted with the assurance that Daichi would be having them over for dinner one day, which earned him a confused look from Shouyou that Kuroo didn't have the decency to not laugh at. 

* * *

Kuroo wiped the sweat off his brow as he panted. His body was punishing him for taking a break from volleyball. Summer was in full effect now and the sun was mercilessly beating down on the court. He felt like he was being toasted. He was beginning to regret taking Daichi up on his offer to practice with him and some of his friends and not just because of the weather.

Despite the ten year gap, Kuroo recognized some of the players, Seijou’s captain and vice captain, for instance. The game was more grueling than he thought it’d be. Assuming that games with Bokuto, in all his athleticism, would prep him for any game turned out to be very wrong. 

Oikawa and Iwaizumi were a duo that were hard to beat.

He picked up his water bottle and downed half of it in one go before Daichi clapped him on the back.

"Having a hard time?" He asked.

"I haven't really been working out or playing much since I moved," he confessed. "I feel a bit out of shape."

He was definitely going to be sore that night, but he left that out of the conversation. 

"You're doing well," he said, "You got in a good couple of spikes and you blocked quite a few balls too."

"We lost though," Kuroo pointed out. 

"You still played a good game," Shimizu said, she was bouncing a baby that Kuroo didn't recognize in her arms. 

"Do you like volleyball, Shimizu?" Kuroo asked. After all, she was out on her day off to hang around while they played a game.

"It's fun to watch," she said with a smile. "Although I suppose that I come more often because Tobio likes to watch Koushi and Tooru." She smile in the direction of her son who was receiving a small hair ruffle from Sugawara. "He wants to be a setter."

"He's just determined as Shouyou," Daichi said.

Kuroo watched as the kids were huddled together on the court listening to Sugawara, Azumane, and Ennoshita. He smiled to himself, it was like Sugawara and Azumane to never stop working.

"Akira!" Oikawa outstretched his arms to the baby in Shimizu's arms and nuzzled him lovingly. "Did you see Papa win?" He cooed, making Kuroo and Daichi roll their eyes. Akira was quiet and impassive in his arms, but his tiny hands reached and grabbed at his shirt and face, although Oikawa didn't seem to mind. 

"Don't brag to our son so much," Iwazumi said, coming up from behind him to stroke Akira's head and press a kiss to his forehead.

“He has to know how we play, Iwa-chan!”

Iwaizumi reddened at his old nickname, “Honestly, what are you going to call me if one day I decide to take your last name?”

“You wouldn’t!” Oikawa grinned at him.

Kuroo watched as the two lightly bantered. It was a very cute picture: the two of them wrapped up in their conversation, Akira between them and occasionally contributing his tiny fingers to Oikawa’s nose and mouth. Even with his mild bitterness about losing the game, they made a cute family.

It had been awhile since his last relationship, he thought idly. He couldn’t even remember the last time he went on a date. He certainly hadn’t gone on any in the past few months, but he couldn’t pick out a memorable one before that either. 

“They’ve always been like that.” Kuroo didn’t even realize that he might’ve been staring until Daichi spoke. 

“Like?”

“Flirty, in their own way,” Daichi supplied. He paused and frowned, his face getting somewhat serious. “Does it bother you?”

Kuroo looked at him confused. 

“Does what bother me?” It was only as the words left his mouth that he understood what he was referring to. He couldn’t help the small chuckle that bubbled up. “No. In fact, it’d be rather hypocritical if it did.”

Daichi mirrored him, returning a brief confused look, before understanding sunk in and he smiled, “Oh.”

"Man," Sugawara said after the kids had left his side, "that was good game."

"We lost," Kuroo couldn't help but remind him. 

Suddenly, he was rewarded with a much heartier punch than he expected out of the shorter man.

"Don't mind," Sugawara said, as Kuroo rubbed his arm. He could add that to the list of sore body parts he was going to have. He could see Daichi snickering softly next to him. He meant to glare at him, but only managed a eyeroll.

Kuroo and Daichi looked over to where the kids were congregated. Tobio was practicing with Yuutarou. The two of them occasionally broke out into mild argument while Hitoka fretted beside them, tugging at her brother’s sleeve when he was getting a little out of hand.

“You’re kind of short to play volleyball,” Kuroo heard from Kei. He had seen him interacting with some of the other kids at the after school program. Other than with Tadashi, who true to form was standing by him loyally, he seemed like a sourpuss. 

Wasn’t that kid too young to have such a large chip on his shoulder?

“I’m not!”

He raised an eyebrow at two of the children that stacked themselves together, the smaller one sitting on the taller's shoulder, in front of a boy with glasses. He recognized them from Kenma's descriptions: Yuu, who Kenma described as small but energetic, and Ryuunosuke, who was described as scary looking but not really. 

"You can't beat this Tsukishima, together we-!" Before Yuu could finish his sentence Ryuunosuke wobbled below him and tripped over his own two feet. Yuu went tumbling back, his weight dragging Ryuunosuke with him. 

"Together you're just one big idiot?" Tsukishima asked, folding his arms over his chest and snickering before going off with Tadashi. 

"We almost had him," Yuu said, folding his arms over his chest. 

"We’ll get you next time!” Ryuunosuke called after the taller child, who definitely heard him but didn’t bother to glance at him.

"Yeah, yeah!" Shouyou encouraged at the two older boys. Kenma was quiet, looking at the other boys with clear doubt on his face. 

“They look like they’re having fun,” Daichi commented with laugh. “Before you head home, I was thinking that you could come over Friday.”

“Oh?” Sugawara asked with a raised eyebrow and lips quirked up into a small smirk. “On Friday? what for?”

“Uh, Kuroo _and_ Kenma could come over for dinner because they invited us to for dinner.”

The intrigued look on Sugawara’s face faltered and morphed into an incredulous glance directed at Daichi. The concern on his face nearly had Kuroo fooled.

“You’re going to have him over for dinner?” Dramatically, Sugawara placed a hand on Kuroo’s shoulder and let out a little, sad sigh. “It’s been so nice since you moved to Miyagi. You’ll be missed.”

Daichi looked less than amused, “My cooking isn’t that bad, don’t scare him for no reason.”

“Now I’m getting worried,” Kuroo said jokingly, even though he was beginning to think that maybe Daichi’s cooking might only border on edible. “We’ll see on Friday though.”

Kuroo called for Kenma who looked relieved to not have to join in on the human pyramid that the other kids were making, scuttling over to him immediately after a quick goodbye.

"Your friends really seem to like volleyball," Kuroo commented on their walk home.

"Yeah."

"What about you?"

"I don't know. It looks tiring."

Kuroo smiled, he sounded like his father before he started volleyball for the first time in high school. Unlike Kenma’s mother whose life revolved around volleyball during high school, Kenma’s father took some time to warm up to it. Disinterested, Kenma's father was also more into his hobbies than school sports in the beginning. However, as high school progressed he began to love it and continued playing into his college years.

Kuroo was sure that Kenma would be the same.

"Try it," Kuroo encouraged.

Kenma made a soft grunt.

"I think you would be a very talented player if you gave it some effort. Plus, Shouyou seems like he wants to play. You two could be on the same team.”

Kenma buried his hands into the pocket of his sweater and looked to the side thoughtfully before he gave a noncommittal shrug.

“I don’t think I’d be able to keep up with him.”

“But you could still play together.”

“I guess.”

“You’d like it.”

“Maybe.”

Kuroo let out a quiet sigh, a little smile on his lips. Kenma said that now, but he knew that eventually he’d find a place in the sport. As with other things, with a little more gently prodding Kenma would give it a try.

Kuroo wasn’t giving up just yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you so much for the comments and kudos. Especially the kudos this time around because it just reached 100! That's so awesome!
> 
> I really wanted to get this chapter up much earlier, but I had a more turbulent week than I anticipated. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> ([tumblr](http://www.ayebibs.tumblr.com))


	5. Daichi's Cooking

Early in the morning, before school, Kenma hobbled into the kitchen still in his pajamas. Kuroo looked up from the kitchen table where Kenma’s breakfast was getting cold in front of an empty chair. 

“Is everything alright?” Kuroo asked.

“I think I’m sick,” Kenma said, keeping his eyes trained to the floor and refusing to meet Kuroo’s.

Kuroo raised a brow and gave him a once over. He looked fine, if not a little sleepy. Aside from his squinting eyes, the dark circles, and messy hair—all easily explained by Kenma just waking up moments ago—he looked totally healthy. 

He had an inkling as to what this was about.

“Really?” Kuroo humored. “What’s wrong?”

Kenma looked at the floor, pushing his hands into the waistband of his pajama bottoms.

“My head hurts.”

“Okay.”

“And my stomach hurts.”

“Oh?”

Kenma gave him a little nod, “I don’t think I can go to school today, I don’t feel well enough.”

And there it was.

Kuroo paused for effect; if Kenma was going to act, then he could too.

“Okay,” he decided to say.

“Really?” he asked tentatively, eyeing him carefully. Kuroo nearly smirked. Kenma was getting wiser to his tactics.

“Of course,” Kuroo said with a nod, “you can’t go to school if you’re feeling sick after all.”

“Oh,” Kenma said, his guard lowering momentarily.

“Although, if you’re staying home, I’ll have to hold your DSi for you. Staring at a tiny screen for an extended period of time isn’t the best thing for a headache. That sounds good to you, right? Since your head is hurting?”

Kenma looked at him suspiciously, but nodded slowly, “Okay.”

Alright, so he passed the first test. He’d let him stay home if he passed the second.

“I’m glad you agree. I’ll also have to disconnect the PS4, of course. The game you bought over the weekend is very interesting, but I can’t have you staring at the television while you should be getting rest.”

Kenma glared at him before letting out an exaggerated huff. He frowned and turned around to trudge in the opposite direction. 

“Where are you going?” Kuroo called after him, resting his chin on his hand.

“To my room.”

“For?”

“I have to change for school.”

Kuroo let out a little laugh. Kenma could be so transparent sometimes, but he didn’t know what he expected when Kenma decided to spend his allowance on new games. It was natural that he’d want to devote all the time he could to them. 

Kuroo pulled out his phone, clicking through his notifications until an email caught his eye. It was from an email address that he didn’t recognize. He almost sent it to the trash folder while he was selecting a bunch of spam and promotional emails. He opened it to find a short, formal email: 

Dear Mr. Kuroo Tetsurou,

Hello. This email is on behalf of the Noguchi family. They are aware that you are the current guardian of Kozume Kenma, their grandson. Although they have not been in contact with you or him, they deeply regret this and would like to establish a relationship with him. They have missed out on a lot of his childhood events and would like to remedy that as soon as possible.

It would be greatly appreciated if you could contact them through the information listed below. They look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,  
Saito M.

Kuroo stared down at his phone, wishing that his first instinct was not anger and annoyance. He knew that Kenma’s grandparents had never even met Kenma. They weren’t there at the baby shower or when he was born or for his first birthday. They weren’t even there when his parents died and he had no relatives to depend on and it had been months. If they had so much regret, then why hadn’t they contacted him sooner? Or contacted him themselves instead of having, who he assumed was, their assistant contact him?

Bitterness flooded him as he remembered all of the times that Kenma’s mother cried over the way that they treated her. He thought about her disappointment every time that she reached out to them for Kenma’s sake and received silence. Now they were contacting him? Months after their child died? 

Kuroo gripped his phone tighter. 

They hadn’t even gone to the funeral.

Kuroo flicked his phone off quickly as Kenma sat at the kitchen table. He looked up at Kuroo.

“What?” he asked.

“Hm?”

“You’re staring at me,” Kenma said, bringing a piece of toast to his mouth.

“Nothing.” Kuroo shook his head and looked down at the black screen of his phone. 

But, they were Kenma’s grandparents, he thought reluctantly. He glanced up at the child who was eating his breakfast without a clue. Even though they weren’t there for Kenma’s mother, they could be there for Kenma. 

If they were were sorry about what they had done, then who was he to keep Kenma from them? They lived in France. A few emails or phone calls every so often wouldn’t hurt. If he sent them pictures or had Kenma video call them, they could answer questions about Kenma’s mother that he couldn’t. 

Perhaps, he was vilifying them prematurely.

He sighed and Kenma looked from his food, raising an eyebrow.

“Have you ever talked to your grandparents?” He asked, already knowing the answer.

“My grandmother died, remember?” Kenma said giving him a confused look. There wasn’t much pain associated with that, he was only three when his father’s single mother passed away. 

“No, your mother’s parents.”

“Nope, Mom never talked to them, even though she tried.” 

That was right, Kenma was aware of the way that his grandparents treated his mother. For his sake, few details were explained to him about the exact events that transpired, but he still knew that they weren’t on good terms.

“Do you ever get curious about them?”

Kenma shrugged, picking at his breakfast lazily, “Sometimes, but not really. They were mean to my mom so I’m not really interested in learning about them, I guess.”

“Oh.”

“Why?” 

“Nothing too important, I’ll let you know later.”

Kenma gave him a skeptical look, but didn’t inquire any further. 

Kuroo wouldn’t make a decision just yet, he’d have to weigh the options and talk to them before he did anything. He still had to think of establishing boundaries and a lot more.

* * *

Kuroo wasn't sure what he was expecting when he and Kenma arrived at Daichi and Shouyou's home, but it certainly wasn't Daichi dressed in a frilly apron. His eyebrows shot up the second that Daichi opened the door. He tried not to stare, but there was no helping it. If Daichi didn’t look so absolutely uncomfortable in the pretty thing, Kuroo wouldn’t have found it so funny, but solidly built Daichi—who was clearly embarrassed if the redness in his cheeks were anything to go by—in the delicate, fluffy fabric was certainly a sight to see.

"It's the only apron that I have," Daichi said with a groan, a hand moving to cover his red face. "Well, I mean, It's not mine. I didn't buy this. It's my ex-wife's. She just left it here. I normally don't even wear an apron."

Kuroo laughed, finding Daichi's embarrassment about being in the apron just as endearing as how he looked in it.

"How did the cooking go?" he asked after Kenma disappeared with Shouyou to look at the new series in Shounen Jump that he was excited to show him. 

Daichi looked conflicted, a hesitant look on his as he pondered whether he should tell the truth. There was no dangerous aroma from the kitchen and no smoke to set off a fire alarm.

"I’m still cooking and it’s going... well," he said, but sounded uncertain. 

"Would you like help?" Kuroo asked genuinely even though his tone was light and teasing.

"No," Daichi said strictly. "I can handle cooking this. I'm following one of the recipes that you sent me."

"You sure? I can just chop things, if you need me to."

"I can't have you cooking when I invited you over for dinner," Daichi said crossing his arms over his chest.

"You don't look so strict when you're in that apron," Kuroo teased. 

Daichi reddened.

"Let me help, I can't just sit around doing nothing while you're still cooking and I’m sure Shouyou and Kenma wouldn’t appreciate me crashing their fun."

Daichi thought for a moment, but then nodded. He led him into his kitchen that looked like it was just raided. There were ingredients spread out all over the cupboards. Pans and pots littered the sink and stove. Kuroo was sure that he could have joked about this, but he decided to bite his tongue for the time being. People warned him about Daichi's cooking, but he didn't expect this level of chaos upon entering the kitchen.

"Can you cut the squash up?" he asked.

"How do you want me to cut it up?" Daichi stared at him blankly. He didn't know. "Cubed, slices, diced?" Kuroo offered up some suggestions for him to pick from.

"Any how?" Daichi didn't seem very certain about his vague answer. 

"Hm, this is for the second recipe I sent you right?" Kuroo

"Yeah."

"Cubed then."

"Does it make much of a difference?" Daichi asked as he chopped an onion in half.

"It can affect the way it cooks, makes a difference in texture."

"Damnit," Daichi muttered to himself.

"What's wrong?"

"I have no idea how to chop onions without turning on the waterworks."

"It helps to not cut against the grain and you can stick your head in the fridge for a second if it really burns."

"Do you get used to this?"

"Nope. I occasionally wear my old goggles from work in the kitchen to avoid it. Kenma thinks that I look ridiculous in them."

"I need to see how you look in those," Daichi said with a laugh.

"No way,” he said shaking his head.

"You've seen me in this ridiculous apron. I need some kind of retribution."

"That is not going to happen," Kuroo sung. 

"Shit!" Daichi cursed suddenly.

Kuroo's head shot up and he looked at Daichi with a concerned expression.

"You okay?"

"Yes. Perfectly fine," Daichi tried to level his voice, but it came out tight and pained.

"Did you just cut your finger?"

"No." He responded too quickly.

"Let me take a look," Kuroo said, putting down his own knife and facing him. 

"It's fine," Daichi insisted, but Kuroo could see the blood accumulating between his fingers. 

Daichi would definitely live, but Kuroo was surprised to find that Daichi had cut himself surprisingly deep. He asked where he kept the first aid kid and retrieved it from the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, taking less than a second to smile at Shouyou’s lion-shaped toothbrush that stood on the sink counter. 

Daichi winced as Kuroo swiped a cotton ball doused in alcohol over the cut, his hand instinctively jerked back, but Kuroo held his wrist firmly. 

"Sorry, I’ve got to clean it," he said, laughing a little when Daichi gave him a pained look as he gently wrapped a bandage over the wound.

Daichi held out his hand, inspecting Kuroo’s handiwork. 

“What?” Kuroo asked. “You want me to kiss it better?”

Daichi’s cheeks reddened and his gaze snapped to Kuroo. Kuroo was used to exchanging meaningless flirtation in jest with his friends that he hadn’t even bothered censor himself while talking to the parent of Kenma’s friend. For a moment, Kuroo debated apologizing, but Daichi recovered fast enough. He rolled his eyes and gave him a playful shove.

“I think I’ll survive,” Daichi said with a laugh. 

“I don’t know about that,” Kuroo said raising his hand defensively. “You’re all teary eyed.”

“Because of the onions!”

“Sure, sure!”

“It’s the same reason that I cut myself.”

“You can’t blame everything on onions.”

“Ugh,” Daichi exaggerated a groan, but kept a smile on his face. “You’re insufferable.”

“Please, you like it.”

When everyone was making fun of Daichi’s cooking, Kuroo assumed that they were simply talking about the outcome. Perhaps he could function in the kitchen and just couldn’t get the flavors right. He was sorely mistaken. Daichi was a mess in the kitchen, literally and figuratively. He was the type of person to leave things out on the counter and in the sink as he went along, something that stressed Kuroo more than he knew it should. 

Not only that, but at some point Daichi abandoned the recipe. Kuroo didn’t know what to do with himself as Daichi moved from one kitchen mistake to the next, he wasn’t quite sure how to intervene.

All the man had to was follow a recipe and he couldn’t do that. 

It was when the smell of burnt onion and garlic filled the kitchen and Daichi belatedly moved to add oil the pot that Kuroo nudged him aside and took over. Daichi folded his arms over his chest as Kuroo washed out the pot and started from scratch.

“I thought I was the one supposed to making dinner.”

“You know,” Kuro began playfully, “call me crazy, but I’d like to eat something edible.”

Daichi glared at him, “Ouch.”

“You couldn’t follow the recipe,” Kuroo said, raising a hand in his defense. “Look, why don’t I guide you through this?”

Things went a lot more smoothly with Kuroo guiding Daichi along rather than having him steer the ship. He explained the basics to him as they started from the bottom up and patiently answered the questions that probably should have been common knowledge.

After some time passed and Kuroo narrowly managed to save Daichi from grabbing the metal pot handle with his bare hands, Daichi got more accustomed to maneuvering around the kitchen and began to rely on the recipe.

Shouyou was wide eyed when Daichi set the food on the table. He looked over the various side dishes, his eyebrows high on his forehead and his little mouth open in surprise.

“Did you make this, Dad?” Shouyou asked looking up at Daichi.

Kuroo stopped Daichi before he pawned off all the credit on to him.

“Yep, I just helped out a little.”

Kuroo watched Daichi’s face with interest as he observed his son take his first bite of food. 

“This is so good!” Shouyou beamed. He was already shoveling another bite into his mouth. 

Kuroo couldn’t help but smile when Daichi grinned at his son. 

Shouyou turned to look at Kenma, a big grin still on his face, “You guys should come for dinner more often, if Dad is going to cook like this!”

“I think that’s a great idea,” Daichi agreed, looking at Kuroo with a grateful smile. A heavy warmth bloomed in Kuroo’s chest that he was unsure of how to address, so he simply smiled back and quickly turned his attention towards the food. 

By the time that they finished eating and Kuroo politely helped clean everything up, it was just past nine. Kenma and Shouyou sat together on the couch under a light blanket playing Mario Kart. 

“Hey, it’s time to go,” Kuroo said, after he waited for them to finish up their race. Kenma, who was racing as Toad, managed to finish in first while Shouyou, who was racing as Mario, finished in fourth.

“No, don’t go yet,” Shouyou said quickly. “We’re having so much fun.”

“You two can play together next time,” Kuroo said.

“Just for a little longer?” Kenma asked, surprising him. He expected that Kenma would be worn out and ready to go home by now.

“It’s kind of late,” Kuroo said. 

“What if we play you for it?” Shouyou asked, his disappoint replaced by excitement.

“Play me for it?

“Yeah! Kenma and me against you and Dad!” 

Kuroo looked over to Daichi, in case he wanted them out of his hair, but he was grinning back at him.

“I’m not going to back down from a challenge.”

“We’re really good!” Shouyou said excitedly, jumping to stand on the couch. Daichi gave him a strict look and he plopped back down on his bum. “We’re gonna win!”

“Shouyou, I played Mario Kart while your mother was still pregnant with you.”

“How has Mario Kart been out that long?” Kuroo muttered. 

Daichi belatedly realized how it dated them, but followed up with, “We’ve had a lot practice.”

“I don’t think that Kuro will ever have enough practice,” Kenma said.

“Hey!” Kuroo said, “Are you trash talking me right now?” 

Kenma sent him a smile and Kuroo reached to ruffle his hair which he avoided, but Kuroo couldn’t help but grin back. The four of them sat together on Daichi’s couch, Kuroo and Daichi on one side and Kenma and Shouyou on the other. 

It all started out innocently enough. 

Kuroo won the first race by hair, winning only because a blue shell caught Kenma seconds before he was able to cross the finish line. Shouyou was the next to finish after Kenma and Daichi was the last to finish of the the four. What began with Kuroo’s light teasing of Daichi soon morphed into a blown up competition. Neither of them remembered exactly how they went from peacefully sitting on the couch to light wrestling to try to mess with the others controller nor what comment had thrown them from friendly banter to nearly voiced—there were children present—obscenities.

Shouyou and Kenma, despite being the ones who kickstarted the whole thing, bailed after the fifth round when Daichi and Kuroo became too intense. They opted for whatever game Kenma brought with him over rather than getting caught in the crossfire. 

“Ha!” Daichi shouted after he crossed the finish line before a blue shell that Kuroo deployed could wreak havoc on his cart many rounds later. He sent him a “I came in first.”

“We’re practically even!” Kuroo insisted, with a shake of his head. That game only put him one win ahead. 

“Says the loser,” Daichi hummed. 

“Very mature.” 

Kuroo stood up from the couch and stretched out. He glanced at his watch and was surprised to find out exactly how carried away he and Daichi got while their competing against each other. It was nearly midnight. He turned to tell Kenma that they should head home, but paused to stare at the scene in front of him; any remains of competitiveness drained from his body. 

On the other end of the couch, huddled together to fit on only one cushion, Kenma and Shouyou were sound asleep. Kenma’s small arm that wasn’t holding his DSi was wrapped around Shouyou’s shoulder. Shouyou, who had been peering at the screen while Kenma played, had his arm wrapped around Kenma’s midsection and nuzzled to his side. They were so stuck together that Kenma’s cheek was pressed against Shouyou’s fluffy hair. Then, Shouyou stirred in his sleep, cuddling closer to Kenma who, in his sleep, allowed his game to fall to the couch cushion so that he could hold Shouyou with both arms.

Kuroo stared, unsure if he had ever seen something so adorable in his entire life. He dug into his back pocket to grab his phone and took a few pictures of the two napping together.

“You have to send me that,” Daichi whispered as he also watched the two boys sleep. 

“This is so sweet I think that my teeth ache.”

“They look so cute.”

“I’m going to use this to bug him when he’s a teenager.”

“I’m sure he’ll love that.”

“I’m never going to let him live it down.”

Kuroo gave Kenma a little shake. He raised his head from Shouyou’s and looked around, disoriented. He rubbed at his eyes before looking down at Shouyou who was still attached to his side with a confused expression. He called his name softly and gave him a little shake, but Shouyou let out a little whine and arm remained wrapped around him. He gave it another shot, but Shouyou only made matters worse and moved a leg over his lap, trapping him further. Kenma looked at them, searching for help. 

“Sorry,” Daichi apologized to Kenma with a little laugh, “he’s very grabby when he sleeps... Shouyou… time to get up...”

“I’m still tired, Dad,” Shouyou muttered into Kenma’s shirt. 

“Shouyou…”

“I don’t want to go to school….” he whined. Daichi chuckled and stepped forward, picking him up like he weighed nothing. Shouyou was still so small that Daichi could hold him with ease, rubbing his back as Shouyou wrapped his arms around his neck and continued his confused mumblings.

“It’s clearly bedtime for him, give me a second to put him down and I’ll show you two out.”

“Sorry to interrupt naptime,” Kuroo teased when they were on their walk home, watching as Kenma rubbed his sore arm.

Kenma glared at him, “Sorry our videogame got in the way of you acting like an adult.”

“No one can act like an adult playing Mario Kart.”

“You’re the only one who thinks that. You know, you’re the one who makes fun of me for having fun with Shouyou, but you’re even worse with him...”

Kuroo snorted. Well, he wasn’t wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for the comments and kudos! When I’m really busy and life gets kind of hectic (like it has been recently) they really keep me motivated to write!
> 
> Also, I have no regrets about the cliches in this chapter. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> ([tumblr](http://www.ayebibs.tumblr.com))


	6. The Beach

When Kuroo took a sip of his coffee and looked up, his eyes immediately landed on Daichi who was retrieving his own order at the drink pick up. He waved him over. Over the last two weeks, after he helped make dinner at Daichi's house, they had clearly become close friends. Kuroo had a feeling that it had to with the photo of Kenma and Shouyou cuddling up together since that was what prompted their long, texting conversation that was now going on sixteen days. 

Daichi would send him parenting memes and Kuroo would send him cooking videos and recipes. Just the other day, Daichi called him in the middle of making a dish and Kuroo was able to walk him through it. 

Kuroo liked having a friend in Miyagi, it made him miss Tokyo less. 

Daichi sat down opposite of him at the table.

"So, how was the dish? Did Shouyou complain?"

"It was a little salty," Daichi admitted, "but no other complaints. I owe that to you.”

"Not bad, you might work your way up to self-sufficient."

"Oh, ha ha." 

Kuroo laughed a little. 

“A large coffee, huh?” Daichi asked, somehow picking up that his normal, medium cup of coffee for lunch was replaced by the bigger cup. 

"Yeah, work has been really rough lately.” 

It was work and the matter of him finally replying to Kenma’s grandparents’ assistant the night before. It was both his pettiness and uncertainty about what to say that made him respond so late. It had taken him two hours to type a few sentences and press send. Of course, he regretted everything he wrote as soon as he sent the email, but there was nothing he could do about it except for lay awake and worry over it until he fell asleep.

But, Kuroo continued about work, “Hours were very good when I got started, but now there always seems to be extra things to stay back and do. I like my job, so I wouldn't mind, but I've got to get Kenma. The other day, I was a few minutes late."

"A couple of minutes isn't too bad," Daichi said. "Koushi and Asahi are supposed to stay back awhile and I doubt they really mind if you give them heads up."

"No, it's not really that," Kuroo said. "I mean, I don't want to be an inconvenience either... but Kenma has some separation anxiety. He gets really nervous if he's by himself and whoever is picking him up is running late. That and the last time someone was late was when his parents passed away. He was at that daycare for two hours before I went and got him. When I got there, he was already anxious and teary eyed... and then he had to hear what happened. So, I try to avoid being late even if it's just a few seconds."

"I had no idea," Daichi said. "Poor Kenma."

When they first started spending their lunch breaks at the coffee shop together, they would often apologize for delving into the darker aspects of their life. As weeks passed, it became a normality in their conversation. As it turned out, with their similar age and situation of raising a child on their own, they seemed to understand one another very well. Both of them could relate to the hardship of raising a kid alone.

In fact, Kuroo was so accustomed to discussing things with Daichi, the moment that he decided to email Kenma’s grandparents back he was already itching to tell him about it. However, he could never seem to bring it up, he suspected that he was embarrassed about his own bitterness towards the situation and how it might be getting in the way of making the best decision. It had already kept him from replying to them in a timely manner. He wasn’t sure what he’d do if Daichi disapproved of his thought process. He shook the thought from his head and returned to the conversation at hand.

“As time goes on I think that the separation anxiety will get better. You know, when everything isn’t so fresh. That’s what the books and therapists say, anyway. For now, I’m just going to try to make sure that I don’t leave him sitting all by himself… He’s made a couple of friends though, so at least there are kids to wait with him while they wait for their own parents.”

“I’ve noticed he’s made friends,” Daichi said, “although I think he’s still getting used to everyone’s energy level.”

“You can say that again,” Kuroo said. “Now there are some days that he goes straight to sleep without even picking up his games. Not that I mind, I wouldn’t mind if he wanted to do something other than play video games… even though I don’t think that sleeping counts.”

“Does he know how to swim?” Daichi asked. Kuroo raised an eyebrow. “Some other parents are bringing their kids to the beach after their second term ends. You two should come.”

Kuroo looked up in thought, “I don’t actually know if he can swim... I’d have to ask him. He doesn’t really like the heat though, so I’m not sure he’d want to go to the beach… If Shouyou is going, I’m sure I can get him interested. Believe it or not, your son has gotten me out of a lot of frustrating situations.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, if he doesn’t want to do his homework, I just mention that maybe he’ll have to do it later and maybe plans with Shouyou will have to be put off. It gets him to do his work, even if he’s grumbling the entire time.” Daichi laughed. “Does that make me a bad person?” Kuroo asked, cracking a smile. 

“If it does, then I’m terrible. I do the exact same thing. I’m glad you’ll go to the beach though, it’ll be more interesting.”

Kuroo paused and took a sip of drink, hoping to briefly hide whatever color the heat in his cheeks was making. 

“Oh?” Kuroo asked, raising an eyebrow and smirking once he recovered.

Daichi’s eyes widened at his own words and then shook his head. 

“There aren’t a lot of young parents, outside of Kiyoko. You should bring some of your friends, too. There are a lot of older parents and, even though some of them are nice, they seem to come in two types It’d be nice to not have a parent there that won’t be relentlessly judging me about how I parent because I’m under thirty and have an eight year old.”

“What’s the other type?”

Daichi groaned and reddened from his cheeks to his ears, “Mrs. Kobayashi gets her own category for hitting on me every time she sees me.” 

“‘Mrs?’”

He raised his hands in defense, “Don’t ask me. I have no clue about her motivations.”

“Maybe it’s that the moms just can’t get enough of you.”

Daichi’s hand flew to his face to cover his red cheeks and groaned. “Don’t say it like that it’s embarrassing.”

“You’re the one who wants me around.”

Daichi shook his head, “Unfortunately.”

* * *

When Kuroo, Kenma, Akaashi, and Bokuto arrived at the beach, Kenma looked less than enthused. He had a pout on his face the entire ride there. 

“The beach is hot and sand gets everywhere,” he explained, but his sour expression only lasted all the way up until the moment that he saw Shouyou who was already in his black swim trunks. 

Kuroo made quick reintroductions for his friends, Daichi seemed to remember Bokuto’s energetic personality and, by extension, Akaashi who always kept him in line. 

Kuroo set down their things in the sand, getting ready for the day. He pulled out the umbrella and spread out the towels next to Akaashi and Bokuto's things before looking over to Daichi on his right. The man was still dressed in a t-shirt. Kuroo furrowed his eyebrows. Was he not going to swim today and just stay in his street clothes? Kuroo had already peeled off the tank top that he came in and was already wearing his swim trunks, the hot sun was too much to bear. 

"Dad, are you going to get changed?" Shouyou asked, beating him to it.

"Oh, I forgot that I still had my shirt on.” 

Daichi pulled the shirt off of his back and handed a can of spray-on sunscreen to Shouyou to help him and Kuroo lost the ability to look away. Kuroo thought that he managed to stay in shape, but Daichi was something else entirely. He took in the muscles of his broad back and chest, eyes trailing down to his equally toned thighs and legs. “Thighchi” sure was fitting. Kuroo watched as the sunscreen slicked every inch of his body and made his tan skin shine. 

Was this a joke? He had to be kidding. Kuroo swallowed. 

Since when did fathers look like that. 

Suddenly, he empathized with Mrs. Kobayashi. 

Kuroo wasn’t able to draw his eyes away from Daichi’s muscles until Bokuto pressed a freezing cold water bottle to his chest and he yelped. Kuroo flushed as Daichi gave him a confused look.

“What was that for?” He hissed.

“You looked thirsty,” Bokuto said wiggling his eyebrows.

“You’re the worst.” Kuroo gave him a shove

“You love me.”

“Hey, Kenma, did you put on sunscreen?” Kuroo asked, reminded after his too long stare at Daichi.

“Yes...” Kenma muttered with a huff.

Kuroo hadn’t really seen Kenma standing around many other kids except for Shouyou. Seeing the two surrounded by other kids really put their their size in perspective. They looked so small next to the other children, especially Tsukishima who towered over everyone. He would have looked old for his age, except for the green dinosaur swim trunks that he had on. 

“C’mon Kenma!” Shouyou called excitedly, jogging to the others. 

Kuroo looked from Kenma to Shouyou and the group of kids trying to construct a palace out of the sand. For a moment, Kuroo was worried about Kenma’s hesitation, but then he wiped off some excess sand on his arm and _jogged_ to catch up with the other children. Kuroo watched with wide eyes, Shouyou really was amazing to get that reaction of him. 

Shouyou handed Kenma a bucket and shovel before he dropped to his knees to try to build up a castle with dry sand. Kenma smiled fondly at him when Shouyou was disappointed by his fruitless efforts and stalked off in another direction. Shouyou lifted his gaze from the sad lump of sand, he found Kenma missing, but Kenma quickly returned with the bucket that was now full of water. Kenma plopped down next to Shouyou, He poured the water over the sand before pulling together the damp grains to create a single, strong tower.

“Oh!” Shouyou marveled. “We gotta make more though. It has to be a big castle. For lots of people.” 

Kenma nodded and the two went to work. 

After talking with Akaashi, Bokuto, Sugawara, and Asahi, Kuroo scanned the beach looking for Daichi and found him speaking to an older woman. Standing next to an umbrella and cooler, he looked like he was trapped from retreating. Momentarily, Daichi caught his gaze and, even though he wasn’t sure, it looked like he was trying to convey some message before his attention was called back to the woman in front of him.

He strolled over and heard the tail end of a sentence about Daichi’s gym habits. Kuroo threw an arm around Daichi’s shoulder and leaned down to his level. He was suddenly hyper aware of how much of his bare skin was touching the same body he was admiring earlier. He really hoped that he hadn’t misread the look Daichi gave him.

“Daichi! what are you two talking about?” Kuroo asked. 

“Mrs. Kobayashi and I were just about how much time flies when you have kids and how, before you know, so much time has passed.” Kuroo had a feeling that Daichi was being kind with the summary of their conversation.

“Ah, y-yes,” she faltered under Kuroo’s knowing gaze and to make a more convincing argument added, “My daughter is just involved in so much, that I’m so busy helping her manage. Though I was just about to ask Sawamura how he maintains his physique throughout the year while he’s so busy with Shouyou.”

Well, that was forward. 

Daichi only laughed awkwardly. 

Mrs. Kobayashi didn’t seem like an awful woman, but there was something to be said about how she was so persistent in flirting with Daichi even though he was clearly uncomfortable. 

Maybe Kuroo could put an end to it. 

"I know, my Daichi is really amazing," Kuroo said and leaned in to give him a quick peck on the cheek. Daichi tensed and Kuroo worried that he'd gone too far, but Daichi's shock only lasted for a few moments until he realized Kuroo's intentions. The shock on Mrs. Kobayashi's face, on the other hand, remained much longer. Her eyes were wide and mouth slightly parted as her eyes darted back and forth between them.

Mrs. Kobayashi looked like she was at a loss for words. 

Kuroo forced a smile, “Now, would it be alright if I steal Daichi away for a bit? We’re going to go pick up some ice cream for the kids.”

“Oh, I-I... Of course.”

“Thank you. I’ll see you later then.”

He steered Daichi away from her until they were on the boardwalk and headed in the direction of the ice cream parlor. 

Daichi heaved a sigh of relief, “Thank you for that. I feel like I never know what to say when she starts talking to me.”

“What? You wouldn’t want to take Mrs. Kobayashi up on any of her flirting? Doesn’t get lonely as a single dad?” Kuroo teased.

“Sometimes,” Daichi admitted, the tone of the conversation becoming a little more serious than anticipated, but it was gone in a second, “Maybe a passionate affair is what I need.”

Kuroo snorted, “Maybe you should contact Miss Itou.” Miss Itou was the ornery young mother who seemed to have no idea how to control her child. More so than romance, she was always looking for a fight.

“I don’t think that she’s on the short list.”

“Oh? There’s a short list? Who’s on it?” 

“Don’t tease me about this,” he groaned. 

“I’m curious,” Kuroo said with a laugh. “What type of women is Sawamura Daichi attracted to?”

“Well, it’s not like it’s only women.” 

“Ohoho?”

“Bisexuals aren’t as rare as you think,” he said simply

Kuroo had always assumed that Daichi might not be straight, he alluded to it in their past conversations, but having confirmation excited him. An enthusiasm bubbled up inside him like it did when he saw him during their lunch breaks and when the kids got together for playdates. It was nice to know that he had something like this in common with his new friend. 

“Although, considering I’m your Daichi I’m not sure I should be discussing my short list with you,” Daichi teased.

“Hey, if she thinks you’re in a relationship, I doubt she’ll ever bother you again.”

“If we weren’t talking about a married woman, then I’d be inclined to believe you.”

Kuroo frowned. He didn’t like the idea of Mrs. Kobayashi continuing to hit on Daichi if he was so uncomfortable with it. For some reason, even more so if she thought that they were together. 

“I appreciate the effort though and, if you’re around, I doubt she’ll say anything in front of you. She’s not that shameless.”

At least there was that. 

As they walked along the boardwalk to get ice cream, they glanced back at the group at the beach. Saeko and Akiteru, who were accompanying their little siblings to the beach seemed to be having fun... or at least Saeko did. The teenagers were nearly waist deep in water and poor Akiteru was trying to catch his breath between each successive splash Saeko sent his way. The little kids were also in the water. Kuroo couldn't help but snort when, in the middle of hurling an insult at Tobio, Kei was hit by a particularly violent wave and Tadashi worriedly asked him if he was okay. 

As always, Ryuunosuke and Yuu were together. After seeing Kei hit by the wave, they challenged him and Tadashi to a game of chicken. In the sea, Yuu sitting on Ryuunosuke's shoulders was much safer than when they were out of water, even though Kuroo didn't think that squaring up against Kei and Tadashi would yield any results. 

Shouyou and Kenma, on the other hand, were not as far in as the other children. They were knee deep in water and every so often they would pick up little shells and hold them so that the other could see. Tobio joined them and before they knew it, a competition started up. A large wave that covered their little heads and left them coughing up seawater prompted a game to see who could hold their breath the longest. 

"The kids look like they’re having fun," Kuroo said with a grin.

"They're enjoying their summer break. School will start up again soon and they have this much time to play... even though at this age school can really just be a time to see friends."

"True, true."

Daichi and Kuroo returned with ice cream in hand in time to hear Akaashi say, “Only you would be excited to get a spike past children.” 

If Bokuto heard this piece of criticism, he paid no mind to it and continued to talk energetically with Hinata and some other kids about spiking the ball. Rather than scattered about, most of the children were now on the beach’s volleyball court. Bokuto seemed to be doing well with them.

"So, I heard some interesting news from Mrs. Kobayashi," Sugawara said, when he approached them with a mischievous smile on his face. Kuroo and Daichi sent him a confused look. "Something about Kuroo calling you, 'my Daichi' and a kiss?"

"Oh," they said in unison, both a little red.

"A kiss?" Akaashi asked, his attention caught as he approached and let the kids play around on the volleyball court.

“On the cheek,” Kuroo clarified.

"What?" Bokuto sounded shocked. "Why didn't you tell me anything?"

"Don't get overly excited, Koushi. That was out of necessity," Daichi said.

"What? Was that all it was to you?" Kuroo clutched at his chest dramatically and Daichi rolled his eyes. "Really, though, Mrs. Kobayashi sexually harassing him had to come to an end one of these days. That’s all it was."

"Kind of disappointing," Sugawara said. Before anyone could say anything about that, he followed up with: "Did you buy ice cream for the kids?" 

The mention of ice cream was all it took to catch the kids attention and soon they were swarmed with children and handing out popsicles. 

Kuroo watched as Hitoka tried to split a popsicle and, rather than break apart at the middle, the sticks dislodged from treat. A lump of bright red ice stood out in the light sand and she stared down with it with wide, shocked eyes. For a moment, she looked like she was holding it together, but he quickly realized that she had been trying to be strong as he watched her try to hold back tears. He moved to give her another, but Kenma was already handing over his own unwrapped popsicle. Kuroo felt a swell of pride at his kindness and then felt even warmer when Shouyou handed him right side of the a popsicle that he was able to break properly.

"Kids can be so sweet," Daichi said with a little laugh. Kuroo nodded. 

"That was very kind of Shouyou."

"It was kind of Kenma," Daichi returned the compliment and smiled at him. 

Kuroo smiled back. When he was around Daichi things felt so easy.

* * *

Kenma rubbed his eyes and yawned as he walked to the table the next morning. He flinched suddenly when he sat down and leaned against the back of the chair. Quickly, he scooted up so that his tush was nearly at the edge of the seat.

Kuroo gave him a funny look until realization hit him.

“Kenma?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you put on sunscreen yesterday?”

“... Yes.” His hesitant reply wasn’t convincing in the least.

“You have sunburn don’t you?”

“I don’t.”

“You do.”

“I don’t.”

“You do.”

“I don’t.”

“Does that mean you don’t want me to go and get the aloe gel?”

“... I do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. I am so sorry that this took so long to get out. I’m a student who also works and does research, so sometimes it’s very hard to manage everything at once. Still, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
> 
> Thank you so much for the comments and kudos. I’m really not lying when I say that they make my day. 
> 
> Also, just a quick note, I’ve decided to change the the amount of chapters that this will be. I hadn’t anticipated changing it, but I do think that the story will flow better with the changes and that it's best to leave it open to further change in the future. I hope no one minds!
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> ([tumblr](http://www.ayebibs.tumblr.com))


	7. Realization

Kuroo reread the email he received the day before over and over as he and Kenma, who was absorbed in a game next to him, rode the train to Tokyo.

 

Dear Kuroo Tetsurou,

Thank you for your response to our previous email. Mr. and Mrs. Noguchi would like to take the correspondence slow as there has been little contact over the last few years. However, in regards to your previous email, they think that it would be best if you were the sole decider in this exchange. They feel as though Kenma is too young to make a decision. When you discuss your decision on the matter with him, please let us know. They are anxiously waiting for your reply. Thank you.

Sincerely,  
Saito M.

 

The email was as formal as the first, but something seemed off with it. Kuroo told him that he would discuss their wishes with Kenma to see how he felt about starting up a dialogue with his grandparents. He already decided that the best thing for him was to let Kenma know that his grandparents wanted to talk to him and support him whether or not he was comfortable. He was going to encourage him to speak to them, after all, they were his only living family. On the other hand, Kenma wasn't kept in the dark about their treatment of mother. He also witnessed how they didn't show up to his parents funeral. Those types of things were not easily forgotten. 

Kuroo certainly was not going to be the sole decider on the issue.

Kenma was a child, but that didn't mean his feelings—whatever they were—should be disregarded. 

Kuroo was going to find out today how Kenma felt about it. Now that they officially started a conversation, he couldn't wait a few weeks to contact them again. For an eight year old, Kenma was perceptive and he was sure that his light treading on the subject of Kenma's grandparents over the last few weeks had not gone unnoticed. He decided to bring it up on their visit to his mother's house. Kenma had a soft spot for her, perhaps because she was the only person that could tease Kuroo as well as he could tease other people. 

He had to learn it from somewhere.

"Look at you Kenma!" Kuroo's mother cooed when they reached her house. She bent her long body down to envelop Kenma in a big hug. "Have you grown since I last saw you?" 

"Maybe a little," Kenma said shyly. 

"'Maybe a little?'" She parroted and then turned her attention towards Kuroo. "Haven't you been measuring him? When they're young you have to keep track. You grow like grass when you’re this small."

"Hello to you to you too, Mom."

She grinned at him and stood up straight, holding her long arms out. Kuroo wrapped his arms around his mother. This was another thing that he missed about Tokyo: his mother. Growing up, she was the most important person in his life, which is probably why he took so much after her. Even though he lived in Miyagi, they were still close. But phone calls couldn't relay the warm of her voice or the smell of his childhood home. 

"Come in, come in," she said waving the two inside. "I cooked for you two." She grinned at Kenma, "And don't you worry, I haven't forgotten the apple pie." 

Kenma reddened at her thoughtfulness even though he looked pleased.

"You're going to spoil him," Kuroo said with a laugh.

"Oh!" His mother said suddenly. "That reminds me, I went to the mall the other day and I just happened to see this game. 'It looks like Kenma would like this,' I thought and I just couldn't help myself."

"Y-you didn't have to-." Kenma began politely, even though Kuroo could see how touched he was.

"Nonsense," she said shaking her hand in front of him before retrieving the game from drawer and handing it to him. He took it politely with two hands and stared down at it in awe.

"Your affections are so easily bought," Kuroo commented. “He’s going to get used to this if you keep spoiling him.”

"Do I have grandchildren?" His mother asked.

"No," he mumbled. 

"Exactly, Kenma is just as good."

"Thank you." Kuroo wasn't sure whether he was saying "thank you" for the game or for the comment. 

"Anytime, sweetheart, but you know the real way to thank me. Do you best in school and...?" She opened her arms out for another hug which Kenma returned. 

"Speaking of which," his mother began, placing a glass of milk and a slice of apple pie in front of Kenma, "how has the romance been going lately? Any boyfriends that I can hear about?"

Kuroo's sexuality had never been hidden from Kenma, so this was only an unfair question in one respect. Kuroo thought briefly about a Christmas party that he invited an ex-boyfriend to and Kenma got to see firsthand how bad his taste in people was. The fried chicken incident was completely banned as a conversation topic. 

"I've been busy with work, so-" 

"He hasn't been seeing anyone," Kenma supplied. Kuroo looked at him in surprise and could swear that there was a glint in Kenma's eyes. This was what he got for teasing him all the time. In front of his mother, Kenma had an opportunity for revenge. 

"What? You need to date a little. Go out, have some fun."

"Exactly when am I supposed to do that?" he asked. With work and raising Kenma, it left little time to go out and actively look for someone. "Meeting someone isn't easy nowadays." 

"It's easy if you're looking. Let Kenma spend the day with me sometimes! I wouldn’t mind the company while you go out on a few dates."

Kuroo didn't feel like looking, "I don't have time to do that and I'm not really interested in searching."

"No one you're interested in now?" Kuroo’s mother tried.

"No. I'm busy with work."

She sighed, finally accepting that line of questioning was going nowhere fast. "Then, how has the job been going?"

They talked for a bit about his new job, his strange coworkers, and how his lunch would occasionally go missing during the day. He was pretty sure that the culprit was the cute, little intern who oozed innocence and expressed his frustration that no one would believe him. Then, as his mother asked Kenma about his school and friends, Kuroo’s phone vibrated and he checked his message under the table.

**SAWAMURA DAICHI** I: What did the buffalo say to his son as he was leaving for college?

Kuroo snorted. Daichi, always texting him about important matters.

**KUROO TETSUROU** : Oh no.

**SAWAMURA DAICHI** : Bison.

**KUROO TETSUROU** : omg. You have a terrible sense of humor.

**SAWAMURA DAICHI** : I thought it was funny.

**KUROO TETSUROU** : That’s because if you were a buffalo that’s exactly what you’d tell Shouyou when he left for college.  
**KUROO TETSUROU** : You’ve reached peak “dad.” I’m not convinced that you are not, in fact, a fifty year old man.

**SAWAMURA DAICHI** : [img]  
**SAWAMURA DAICHI** : Better?

Kuroo laughed out loud at the parenting meme that Daichi sent him.

**KUROO TETSUROU** : Much.

“Um, hello? Are we interrupting something?” His mother and Kenma were looking at him with expectant stares. There was a knowing look on her face. “Who were you texting?”

“No one-”

“Probably Shouyou’s dad,” Kenma cut him off.

“Shouyou, your friend?”

“Yeah, they text all the time.”

“Oh? All the time?”

“Yes, he’s my friend. What? In front of my mother you become a tattletale?” Kuroo asked Kenma who looked back at him and shrugged. He shouldn’t have been surprised by Kenma’s pettiness. Not with the amount of times he’s given him a hard time for no other reason than that it was just fun. 

“So, like, a straight friend or-?”

“Anyway, maybe now is a good time to bring this up.”

“Nice transition, son.”

"Bring what up?" Kenma asked, looking at the two expectantly. Kuroo looked from his mother to Kenma, he supposed now was as good as time as any to tell him about his grandparents. 

Kuroo sighed, "Your grandparents contacted me recently. The ones in France. They want to get to know you."

"Oh," Kenma said quietly. "I don't really..." He looked down at his empty plate and picked up his fork to push around the crumbs. "I've never met them."

"I know," Kuroo said with a nod, "but they... or, um, their assistant contacted me by email and they seem interested in talking to you. In me sending them photos and things like that too. I wanted to know what you thought about it."

Kenma stayed quiet for a moment. "They never showed interest in me before. They had almost nine years."

Kuroo nearly agreed with him. He nearly ended the conversation right then and there. It was what he had been thinking the entire time, but he refrained. That'd be selfish on his part and he wasn't going to do that to Kenma. 

"That's true, but they're making an effort now, so why don't you give them a chance? I'm not going to push you into anything, but I think it's a good idea to send some emails back and forth occasionally. They're a little late, but it doesn't mean that you can't let them in."

Kenma looked at him skeptically. 

"If I couldn't get visits like this from you every so often, I don't know what I'd do with myself," his mother supplied.

Her words were meant to be kind and empathetic, but Kenma scrunched up his face at them.

"But you call me a few times a week," he pointed out. "They've never even met me."

"I'm sure that they want to catch up for missed times," his mother said. Kuroo thought that she was being a little too generous on their part. "I think it'd be a good thing for you to at least get to know them a bit."

Kenma frowned. "My mother tried to get in contact with them, but they never answered. I don't think that she ever got over how they hurt her."

"I know," Kuroo said carefully, "but I also think that your mother would be the type of person to welcome them back into her life if they finally decided they wanted to be apart of it again."

Kenma was quiet as he switched from playing with the crumbs on his plate to the hem of his sleeve. 

"Do you really think that?"

"I do." 

And he really did. Though, truth be told, if she was still around, he was sure that he and Kenma's father would be hesitant to accept them. Kenma's mother, on the other hand, was a recklessly kind person. 

“I don’t want to force you into anything, but I don’t think it’s a totally bad idea to get to know that side of your family.”

“What about my father? Do you think he’d be upset?”

“I think that he’d want what your mother wanted,” Kuroo settled on. 

“Okay,” 

Kuroo looked at him cautiously, that had gone smoother than he thought that it would, but if that was what Kenma wanted...

“Okay, then I’ll let them know that you’re open to it.”

* * *

Later in the week when Kuroo and Kenma went shopping, Kuroo knew something was wrong way before it happened. Kenma was unresponsive to his teasing. Normally, he would respond with mild annoyance to it. He might even huff or respond with a comeback, but he was silent the entire trip. There were no tentative questions to go and buy video games or longing looks at the café where he like to get apple pie. Kuroo knew something was wrong, but he couldn't place it. 

It was a different feeling from when Kenma was anxious or sad. He was just quiet, no anxiety in his eyes nor did he look like he wanted to cry.

"Is everything okay?" Kuroo asked carefully as they exited a store.

"I'm not feeling so well..." Kenma muttered softly.

"Do you think you're going to have a panic attack? Do you want to take a break?" Kuroo asked just in case he misread the situation.

"Not like that," Kenma said. "I think that I'm coming down with something."

Kuroo furrowed his brows and placed the back of his hand on Kenma's forehead. He frowned immediately, his skin was burning up.

"Alright," he said with a sigh. "That's enough shopping for today. We're going back home. You need to rest."

"I can keep shopping," Kenma protested. 

Kuroo placed a hand on his shoulder, "I can go shopping another day. Let's go get you settled in bed."

Kenma nodded weakly and they headed for home. As they walked, Kenma kept lagging behind him. When Kuroo looked at him, Kenma's eyes were squinting against the setting sun.

"Do you want me to carry you home on my back?" Kuroo offered.

"... Yes." 

Kenma must really not have been feeling well. Kuroo offered in earnest, but usually he was too self-conscious to ever accept an offer to be carried on his back.

Kuroo knelt down and allowed Kenma to climb on. When he stood up, worry filled him instantly. Against his back, he could feel Kenma's hot body and the sweat that was accumulating on his skin.

"Your fever seems really high."

"But I feel cold."

"That's how it works," Kuroo explained gently. 

When they reached their house, Kuroo put him down and instructed him to go to bed. Kuroo pulled the blanket up to Kenma’s neck and gently brushed the hair from in front of his face. He dug through a few drawers to find the thermometer and had him place it under his tongue. 

“39.3°…” Kuroo reported when the little stick beeped.

“Is that high?”

“Yeah, hold on, I’m going to call the doctor and see what he says. You try to get some rest.”

Kuroo searched through his cabinets for medicine as he held the phone between his ear and spoke to the doctor. Just as the doctor asked him whether Kenma was vomiting, Kuroo heard fast footsteps from Kenma’s room to the bathroom. 

Quickly, he followed him into the bathroom, pulling back his long hair as Kenma vomited into the toilet. He balanced talking to the doctor on the phone with rubbing a soothing hand in circles on Kenma's back when the contents of his stomach were emptied.

“What did he say?” Kenma asked just above a whisper and still leaning over the toilet after Kuroo thanked the doctor and hung up. 

“You don’t have to go to the doctor’s office or hospital unless you still have a high fever and keep vomiting after I give you some cold medication. Go back to bed and I’ll bring you a bucket, some water, and medication.”

Kuroo quickly delivered the bucket and water before searching through his cabinets for some medication. Panic rose within him as he searched and came up empty. Allergy medication, bandaids, antacids. Everything but cold medication. Of course. It was the end of the summer, it wasn’t like he anticipated either of them catching a cold. How did he let Kenma get so sick? He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He would have to go out and leave Kenma by himself… but what would he even buy? He never bought medication for a child before.

The first thing he did was call his mother, but he got no answer. He remembered that she mentioned she was going to a spa with her friends over the weekend when they visited her. 

In his worry, he called the next person on his mind that knew anything about kids: Daichi.

“Kuroo!” Daichi answered happily. “What’s-”

“What medication do you buy when your Shouyou has the cold and his vomiting?” Kuroo blurted cutting him off. “Sorry, sorry...”

“Hey, calm down, take a deep breath.” Without thinking, Kuroo obeyed. “Did you call the doctor already?”

“Yes, he said to give him some cold medication, but we don’t have any and I have no idea what to buy.”

“You’re going to go out and buy medication?”

“Yeah? He’s sick…”

“No, you can’t leave him alone. You two hold tight and make sure he’s drinking enough water. I’ll be there soon. Bye.”

Kuroo opened his mouth to tell Daichi that he couldn’t impose like that, that he just needed a recommendation, but he heard the phone click before he could say anything.

As promised, Daichi was there quickly with a box of cold medication. He took less than twenty minutes to show up at his door. 

Shouyou popped his head out from behind his father.

“Is Kenma okay?” he asked, a worried expression on his face. 

“He will be, Shouyou,” Kuroo said, ruffling his hair lightly.

“Is he sleeping yet?” Daichi asked. 

“No, he says his head hurts really badly.”

Daichi held up the box of medication, “This should help, you have to dissolve it in water, but it’s really potent and safe for kids. It’ll knock him out cold.”

“It tastes really bad though!” Shouyou said, shaking his head at the memory. “But it put me to sleep!”

The hot water didn't take long to make and as soon as it was done, they dissolved the medicine into it. Kuroo placed his nose over the cup and inhaled deeply. He made a confused face. 

"It smells really good," he said. It smelt like apples and cinnamon. 

"It's deceptive," Daichi said with a shake of his head.

"It's gross!" Shouyou chimed in. 

"He might not want to drink it, but it's important that he takes it all."

They walked to Kenma's room and Kuroo caught Shouyou by the back of his collar before he could enter.

"Hey, where are you going?"

Shouyou pouted, "I want to see Kenma and make sure he's okay."

"That's nice of you, Shouyou, but I don't think your dad would be very happy if you caught the cold from him."

Shouyou looked expectantly at his father, as if hoping he would overrule Kuroo's decision, but was disappointed to find him shaking his head. 

"Dad..." he whined.

"Shouyou, Kuroo is right. I don't want you getting sick."

"What about you two?"

"Adults can take sacrifices for people that they care about. Now, you brought your backpack. Why don't you go sit down at the table and color?"

"Fine," he huffed and disappeared.

"He's so sweet."

Daichi sighed, "But so stubborn sometimes."

Kenma was still curled up in bed, a cooling gel sheet on his forehead. That was the one helpful thing that Kuroo found in their cupboards. Kenma looked confused to see Daichi with him, but said nothing about it. 

"How are you feeling?" Kuroo asked. 

"My throat and head hurts still."

Daichi sat down at the edge of the bed and handed Kenma the warm cup of medicine. Kenma cradled it between his small hands, letting them soak up the warmth.

"Drink this," Daichi instructed gently.

"What is it?"

"Medicine."

Kenma took a precautionary sniff of the mug and his eyes widen. He blinked down at it and took a small sip of the liquid. Immediately, he recoiled, nearly spilling the medication on the bed sheets. 

He looked utterly betrayed.

"I know," Daichi said with a knowing nod, "it tastes horrible, but it'll make you feel better."

Kenma gave a look to Kuroo, much like the one that Shouyou had just given Daichi. He was hoping that he would haven't to drink it.

"Daichi is right," Kuroo said. "You have to drink it. I want you to get better."

"I'm sure all you want to do right now is sleep," Daichi said. "This will put you right to bed and you'll wake up feeling a lot better, so if you could just hang in there with the taste, then it'll be worth it."

Kenma looked at Daichi, analyzing his face before giving a little nod.

The soft way that Daichi talked to Kenma warmed Kuroo’s insides. His deep voice and patient words felt like they were convincing him as well.

"Why don't you hold your nose while you drink it. You won't taste it if you do."

"Really?"

"Yeah, give it a shot."

Kenma held his nose and took a sip of the the medication. He waited a second to see if the taste would kick in, but was pleasantly surprised to find that there was no bitter taste. He downed the rest of the liquid quickly, holding his nose for a few seconds after just in case. 

"There we go," Daichi said with a smile. "Shouyou would have been worried if you didn't get better right away."

Kuroo smiled to himself, mirroring Daichi’s handsome one. Daichi was so good with Kenma.

"Is Shouyou here?"

"Yes, but he couldn't come in," Kuroo said.

"He'd get sick," Kenma nodded, "I wouldn't want him to get sick because of me."

"I'm glad you understand," Daichi said. He placed a hand on Kenma's head and stroked his hair. "He's worried sick though. He really wants his best friend to get better."

Kuroo felt like his whole body froze as he watched Daichi interact with Kenma. Daichi was more than good with Kenma, he was amazing with him. Almost anyone else and Kenma would have brushed off their hand, maybe it was because he was sick, but Kenma was even stingy with him sometimes. 

Daichi was an amazing person... that he had feelings for. The realization wracked his entire body, anxiety filling him. It had been so long since he had feelings for anyone. If he was being honest, the feelings for Daichi had started long ago, but he just hadn't paid attention to them. 

"What do you think, Kuroo?" Daichi's voice, cut through his thoughts and Kuroo jumped. 

"Sorry," Kuroo gave him a weak smile, "I zoned out for a second. What was that?"

"I think that a Mario Kart rematch can be arranged as soon as Kenma is feeling better."

"Of course," Kuroo said with a chuckle, that topic of conversation was comfortable for him.

He sat next to Daichi on the bed and the three talked about the next playdate that he and Shouyou would have, about Kenma's favorite subject in school, and his hobbies. The realization of Kuroo's feeling sunk deeper and deeper as the talked and joked to lift Kenma's spirits as much as possible. Kuroo couldn't keep himself from staring at Daichi's strong jaw or admiring his humor. 

It was absolutely the wrong time to be thinking about this with a sick child in front of him, but his stomach flipped every time that Daichi would laugh or say his name. 

Eventually, Kenma drifted to sleep as Kuroo talked about one of his favorite video games. He let his sentence trail off and the two left the room.

“Will you two be okay?” Daichi asked.

“I’m hoping Kenma will be fine,” Kuroo said sighing, “if it doesn’t get better by tomorrow, then I think I’ll take him to the doctor.”

“I’m sure he’ll get better, that medicine works really well. What about you?”

Kuroo let out a little laugh, “What about me?”

“You look stressed out.”

“You’ve told me that a couple of times,” Kuroo pointed out. He did have things on his mind: Kenma’s grandparents, Kenma’s cold, and also his feelings that decided to make a surprise visit.

“Is that the point?”

“I’ve got a couple things on my mind with Kenma being sick like this.”

“It seems like there’s more than that,” Daichi said. He placed a hand on Kuroo’s shoulder and Kuroo’s heart thumped in his chest. “I’m worried about you.” 

Kuroo still hadn’t told him about Kenma’s grandparents, but somehow Daichi was so intuitive. 

“It’s nothing.”

Then, Daichi’s hand on his shoulder moved up to hold him by the back of the neck and pull him in for a hug. Kuroo’s heart went into overdrive and his mind nearly went blank as he felt Daichi’s warmth engulf him. Even though he was shorter than him, he managed to make him completely safe.

Daichi pulled away, his hand remaining on the back of Kuroo’s neck. The two flushed and Daichi quickly removed his hand and cleared his throat.

“Sorry, you seemed like you needed it.” Maybe Kuroo did, the physical comfort already seemed to take the edge off, but now his feelings were all over the place. “You’re type of person who’s so preoccupied with taking care of others that you neglect yourself, so make sure you take care of yourself too, Kuroo.”

“Ah, you still call me by my last name…” Kuroo muttered. “You should probably start calling me Tetsurou. I’ve been calling you ‘Daichi’ all this time.”

“Tetsurou,” Daichi said slowly, letting his name roll around on his tongue. Daichi smiled warmly at him and Kuroo hoped that his face didn’t look as red as it felt as his heart thumped in his chest. “Remember that I’m here for you,” Daichi laughed awkwardly, “I mean, Shouyou and I are here for you and Kenma. You have friends in Miyagi, so don’t forget that.”

“Is Kenma sleeping?” Shoyou’s loud whisper asked as came up to them. He held a folded piece of construction paper in his hands.

“Yes.” Kuroo nodded. 

“I made him a card,” Shouyou handed it to him. “Don’t look inside though. There’s a secret message for him.”

Kuroo laughed, wondering what kind of secrets eight year olds could have. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t peek.”

“Thank you!”

“Alright, we should go, let me know how Kenma is doing tomorrow,” Daichi said.

“Will do.”

Kuroo showed them to the door before making his way back to Kenma’s room. Placing Shouyou’s card neatly on the bedside table, he sat down on the edge of bed and gently stroked Kenma’s hair out of his face as he slept. He was completely out.

Kuroo frowned to himself.

He was in so much trouble. 

He had feelings for Daichi.

Sawamura Daichi, Shouyou’s father, as in the father of Kenma’s best friend. If he expressed his feelings and they weren’t returned, then things would be awkward. Or… if he dared to think that Daichi did have feelings for him and they got into a relationship then they could break up. That would even worse for the kids. Either way, he would be putting Kenma and Shouyou’s relationship into danger.

It didn’t matter, he thought to himself as he looked down at the sleeping child.

He wasn’t going to do that to Kenma. 

He would just keep his crush to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does anyone else think that Daichi would tell terrible jokes as a dad? Because I do. 
> 
> Again, sorry for the wait for the chapter, but I have a break coming up soon and hope that I'll be able to get some more writing done. Thanks for sticking with me. 
> 
> Thank you so much for all the comments and kudos on the last chapter! Reading them made me feel so happy!
> 
> As always, thanks for reading!
> 
> (Talk to me about kurodai and Haikyuu!: [tumblr](http://www.ayebibs.tumblr.com))


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